A Time Apart Chapter 2, a ranma fanfic

"Come on, mom, I don't see why—!"

"Nonsense, Ranma," Genma Saotome watched from the couch as his wife fussed over their only child, tugging at the teen's dress shirt collar to pull out a wrinkle. "No son of mine will attend an appointment to our country's most prestigious university in martial arts silks. Now hold still."

"But--!"

The martial artist's protest went unheard and Genma rolled his eyes, adjusting his glasses. He recognized futility when he saw it and his son's aversion to the black dress pants and white dress shirt he now wore were largely ineffectual, especially in the face of Nodoka's mothering.

Even so it was still quite a shock, and the full scholarship to Tokyo University was actually the least of it. Looming large in Genma's brain was the fight and the woman of its focus. She was a master, that much was clear. Anybody who could force his boy into the higher techniques was at least that, and normally those that could were five times older, at least.

This one had been in her early twenties.

She'll be a problem, Genma sighed to himself, continuing to watch his wife pick over Ranma, ensuring an immaculate appearance. Teacher or not, she was good, and anybody that good wouldn't go unnoticed by the boy. Or vice versa, he amended with a frown. His son had obviously inherited his luck with women and the balding martial artist was all but certain that the teacher would somehow become ensnared much like the others. Unlike the others, this one was dangerous.

"Are we done yet--?"

"Hold still while I pluck this thread..."

For better or worse, Genma Saotome had devoted a lot of time and energy to Ranma's fiancée problem, specifically in keeping his son's focus on Akane. That had included a tactical breakdown of all the threats to his pact with Soun. Shampoo, for instance, had raw sex appeal and was decent at martial arts. Normally he would worry more about the girl, but the Amazon's were fortunately too manipulative for their own good. Ukyo, on the other hand, wasn't quite as good but she was at least competent, and had that 'girl next door' quality to her. She was also smarter than her rivals, attempting many of her machinations from behind the scenes instead of alienating Ranma outright. Like Shampoo, however, she suffered critically by being perceived as Ranma's childhood friend. It wasn't likely that status would change soon without time and space, two things Genma wasn't about to afford the girl.

This new woman, however... She was an excellent martial artist, something that the boy could respect. She was stunningly attractive, sure to turn his head sooner or later. Being a teacher, she was presumably smart enough. And once the Saotome charm takes hold...

In short, she was a problem.

Especially with her potential full time access to the boy on campus, Genma frowned, his thoughts turning grim. And once Nodoka realized all of this, he'd stand a better chance of lighting a fire in a snow storm than keeping Ranma focused on Akane.

Dammit, Soun... why didn't you hold up your end? The answer was obvious of course, and he really couldn't blame the man, but it made the job exponentially harder. An Akane with a competent martial arts background would stand out to Ranma. He'd seen Soun's art back in the day. It was something the boy could respect, while the focus required would likely calm the girl down as well... Probably help her in the more mundane arts as well, such as sewing and cooking.

Genma shivered with the latter thought.

At very least, a solid martial arts grounding would have helped her appreciate the skill Ranma possessed and the sacrifices required to obtain that skill. He was willing to admit that Akane was a largely well meaning and easy on the eyes, but so was her competition, and they were better in every other area he cared to think about.

"The tie too," Genma chuckled to himself as Nodoka proffered his son the strip of fabric, prompting Ranma to adopt a thoroughly defeated posture. Get used to it, boy, he smirked before turning back to the matter at hand.

It was possible he was being overly paranoid. There was an age difference to consider, after all, but he knew the boy's luck all too well. The Saotome patriarch chewed his lip with the dilemma. What would he do if this teacher became enamored with his son like so many other women? The frown returned.

Drastic measures would be in order.

A Time Apart
By Ozzallos

Chapter 2

Suite 1304... suite 1305.... Ranma Saotome continued to idly scan the hall he was walking through, noting the numbered plastic placards and titles beneath them. They all held some pretentious title below the reflective golden number, such as 'attorney at law' or 'chief executive officer'. Every once in a while he would pass a similarly dressed salary man or some smartly dressed secretary as he transversed the maroon carpeted hallway, reminding him of just why he didn't want to be there in the first place.

Sure, it was a full scholarship to Tokyo University and that was generally considered a good thing, but then again this trip he was on reminded him of just where scholarships ultimately led... Corporate purgatory. Ranma paused at a window, looking down at the streets of downtown Tokyo and the bustle of vehicular traffic. Meh, he decided, continuing onto his appointed rounds. Let the suits have the city. He was a martial artist with better things to do. Still, he sighed. Gotta make mom happy, I guess.

1311... Minumoto laboratories.... 1312... Accounts Receivable... 1313...

1313? Ranma paused, noting the complete lack of any pretentious title beneath the placard. The pigtailed boy dug the business card out of his pant pocket just to make sure that the plain brown door he was standing in front of was, indeed, the right place. The fact was confirmed quickly and he pocketed the card with a shrug. Might as well get this over with...

The Saotome twisted the handle and pushed open the door to reveal. Nothing. The room was pitch black, so much so that he couldn't even—Ranma noticed a tug at his shirt; a light breeze.

"What the—" The air suddenly gained density around him and Ranma recognized it as a pressure differential, but had next to no time to act on the tidbit of martial arts insight. His hands snapped out for the doorway frame in a desperate grab for an anchor, but the vacuum had been too sudden and his surprise too complete. The martial artist's fingers managed to touch the frame, but it wasn't nearly enough.

"SON OF A BIIIIIIIITCH!"

Ranma fell or was sucked through the door suddenly- he wasn't sure which -and watched as it quickly dwindle into a tiny rectangle; the sole source of light in the void he now raced through. The martial artist managed to twist around through the momentum and found a speck of light in the opposite direction; the direction he was now heading at high speeds. All sorts of panicked thoughts were rolling around through the pigtailed boy's head as the pinpoint of light grew with proximity, and there was no way to decrease his velocity.

Bright light, bright light... His mind raced to determine what, exactly the bright light was. It now took up a full fourth of the void, and Ranma wasn't liking the answers he was coming up with. Bright light... Could be just a light... Or a high energy source... God's Moko Takabisha... Shitshitshitshitshit...

Too late. The nova swallowed Ranma Saotome whole, obliterating his senses one moment and causing him to puke the next. Or at least he tried to puke. Either way, it compared to a double helping of Akane's cooking and he desperately wanted it to—

Stop.

Ranma's eyes snapped open and he found himself standing, while a quick check of his person ensured his body was whole and intact. He immediately frowned, taking stock of his surroundings. Black. A void as far as the eye could see. Great. Just great.

"Welcome Mister Saotome," Ranma whirled around to the girl's voice at his back and found... A girl. She was dressed in a weird school girl's outfit, sporting silver hair tied up into two odango streamers. Beyond her some three hundred meters away stood...doors? Blue-gray eyes smiled at him, interrupting his thoughts. "Please follow me."

"Uh, sure," Ranma acquiesced, seeing little choice in the matter. It was either follow, or stand out in the void without any answers. The martial artist loosened the bothersome tie around his neck and unbuttoned the collar as the girl started along with a bit of humming, leading the way to the only destination in sight. "Where are we, exactly?"

The humming paused and the girl turned back to him with that same smile as they walked. "You are at the Time Gates, a barycenter point between Pluto and Charon."

Ranma was none the wiser for his question, recognizing the words "time gates" and "Pluto", but little else. Pluto is a planet and time gates... well, I dunno what the hell those are... Gates... of Time?

"Okay, so what am I doing here?"

The girl didn't even turn back this time. "Guardian Pluto is expecting you."

Riiiight... He didn't know any Guardian Pluto and he was pretty sure they weren't talking about the planet anymore. That, and he was relatively sure the girl wasn't real since she didn't register on anything he could sense. No Ki, no power, no nothing...

Either way, answers were sure to be forthcoming as the gates now loomed large above him. He couldn't help but to marvel at them for a moment as he took in the rich, carved detail. The structure itself appeared to be a massive frame housing the doors themselves, while each door was intricately carved, sectioned off into six scenes depicting both ritual and battle. Nor was it just the craftsmanship that was awing. He could literally feel power vibrate off of them, assuring him that whatever these gates actually did, they weren't something to by toyed with.

Gates... of Time?

"Whoa."

"You approve?" Ranma blinked away from the gates, finding a green haired woman walking around from the reverse side with an enigmatic smile. "Welcome to the Time Gates, Saotome-san."

It was all Ranma could do not to stare. There was no mistaking the woman he had fought; the very same that had offered him a scholarship. Only now she was dressed in a form fitting white top, loose black fuku skirt and knee high boots while her right hand tipped a long heart tipped staff across her shoulder. All in all, he had to admit, the look suited her quite well. Still, there was only one conclusion he could possibly derive from the entire situation.

"I'm guessin' there's no scholarship," He hazarded, earning a slightly more mischievous smile from the woman.

"There is, but more for the benefit of anybody caring to investigate such matters," Setsuna nodded, walking up beside the girl that had escorted him to the foot of the gates. "Suffice to say, our business lies elsewhere."

"And what business is that?"

The woman smiled enigmatically. "Why, saving the world, of course."

The martial artist crooked an eyebrow. Saving the world? Of course it was all complete and utter bullshit, and to his knowledge the world wasn't in any dire need of saving, but he liked her flare for the dramatic nonetheless. "Demons, aliens, spirits... that sort of thing?"

"Exactly." Setsuna nodded, completely serious now.

Ranma looked down the pleasantly smiling girl, then back to the woman. "And the bit about being a teacher?"

"I've been many things in my time," She returned cryptically, continuing. "That, however, is not my current occupation."

"So who are you really, then?"

"Perhaps a second introduction is in order," She replied, dipping into a slight bow. "I am Setsuna Meiou, The last princess of Pluto and Guardian of the late Queen Serenity the Third."

"Mmmhmmm," Ranma nodded, as if it were a given. "Look, I really gotta go, so if you could point to the way out of here..."

The martial artist turned to the void at large, scrutinizing for an exit while the woman smiled graciously. "Of course, where are my manners? Gate, open the veil."

The small girl nodded and Ranma watched as the absolute darkness began to evaporate, replaced by... stars... Ranma blinked as his eyes adjusted to the millions of pin pricks of light surrounding him, then nearly staggered as they caught a dimly lit, swirling brown orb to his right. He fixated on the celestial body for the better half of a minute before find a smaller orb floating out to his left. Unlike the first, it was a soft blue-gray. Ranma's head swung from one to the other and back, trying to resolve what he was seeing.

"Earth is five point eight billion kilometers in that direction," Setsuna pointed nonchalantly, drawing Ranma's attention to a small spotlight hanging just to the left of the gates. "It's a bit of a walk, so you might want to get started."

"Uh..." Ranma looked back at the two planets hanging off to the right and left, to the gates then Setsuna herself. "Saving the world?"

"Saving the world," The guardian confirmed, any trace of humor gone now. only resolute firmness shown on her face. "Earth is in for a hard time at the hands of some of the most cruel beings imaginable. At best, they intend to enslave every last man, woman and child on the face of the planet. At worst..." At worst was left unsaid, but Ranma got the gist quite clearly. "Normally I would utilize the assistance of more guardians such as myself, but they... they're all gone."

Gone. Ranma noticed the hesitation associated with the words, all but assuring him that her comrades had fallen, most likely in the same battle she was supposedly inviting him to. The martial artist stared out into the stars. Is that Orion? his eyes picked along the pattern, confirming the offhand observation. The Big Dipper... Pisces... Ranma turned back to the woman, studying her patient demeanor carefully.

The woman herself... This teacher... she was powerful, that much was certain. And holding back without a doubt, he had since decided in reviewing the fight. Regardless, she hadn't killed anybody and even stopped the fight before it got too destructive, making the reason behind the bogus story obvious in retrospect. Ranma looked back to the giant gate looming above him and the planet drifting behind its frame. I wouldn't have believed any of this either.

And the stars? They certainly looked real. After all that time with his old man training, he could damn near navigate by them, thought he couldn't give heads or tails on what Pluto looked like, let alone Charon. Didn't even know there was a Charon... Ranma's eyes turned to the gates. Those were real. Not only were they real, they were vibrating with tangible power. What do time gates do, anyway? Then there was the non-existent little girl there...

"Not sayin' that I believe any of this," The teen remarked casually, prompting the woman to smile.

"Of course not," she returned easily. "Frankly, I'm surprised you're taking it as well as you have so far. I am prepared to offer further proof, of course. Gate?"

The girl nodded with her words and the Time Gate's massive double doors began to swing open, revealing a shimmering, watery surface that rippled across the exposed threshold. Ranma's eyes widened as the ambient power that he had felt since his arrival crested abruptly, matching the waves that reflected along the distorted liquid blue surface. There really was only one thing on his mind now.

"What the hell is that?"

"That," Setsuna stressed, motioning to the open gate. "Is a window into the past. All the proof you need is through that portal."

Ranma Saotome stepped up to the shimmering wall of power warily, studying its movement. After a full minute of staring, he turned back to the Guardian herself. "Through there?" Setsuna simply nodded. "You gotta be kidding."

"I assure you its quite safe," she explained, stepping up next to him and giving the surface an experimental poke. The liquid surface adhered to her finger for a moment before being withdrawn whole and intact. Ranma watched the ripples its touch incited reflect across the threshold. "This is an event horizon that branches into a self contained temporal bubble. Effectively, you can look, but not touch events in the past as to not instigate a terminal causality loop."

"Uh, right," The martial artist mumbled, experimentally poking at the event horizon himself. Like his host, Ranma was able to withdraw his finger back with no detrimental effects. He turned to the woman beside him, shaking his head. "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I think—"

"I understand," Setsuna proffered him an understanding smile, patting his shoulder. The patting suddenly turned into a vice grip. "But I must insist."

"What? Hey! WHAAAA!!"

The Guardian of Pluto shoved the flailing boy through the threshold, causing it to ripple wildly as fell through with neither warning or leverage to right himself. The shimmering blue liquid seemed to melt along his body until the event horizon swallowed up, his desperately clawing hand being the last thing to disappear.

The liquid surface calmed and Setsuna waited patiently.

The rippling began anew less than thirty seconds later and a new person stepped out of the porthole. She sported a similar white on black fuku, long waves of emerald hair and red eyes. A heart shaped key rested up along her left shoulder.

The Mistress of Time frowned at her new visitor. "I still don't think that was such a good idea."

"Don't tell me you're beginning to doubt yourself," The woman smirked insufferably, prompting Setsuna to roll her eyes.

"Of course not," She returned irritably. "I just can't help but to think there's a better way... I haven't allowed anybody this level of access in nearly--"

"Fourteen millennia, yes, I remember," Setsuna's sister self replied tiredly; as if their conversation was well worn ground. "Regardless, it needed to be done. Anything less would have been ineffectual."

Setsuna sighed. "If you say so."

"I do." Her future aspect replied with certainty. "I wish I could tell you the magnitude of victory just that action alone has bought you."

"Hmmf," she snorted. "You can."

"Yes, I can," The woman smirked once more, turning back to the gates. "But I won't. Ja-ne, Setsuna Meiou."

"Ja-ne, Setsuna Meiou." The guardian shook her head with irritation and the woman stepped back through the shimmering event horizon, disappearing.

She would have been more upset if she hadn't already done it to her past aspect on numerous occasions. In fact, it was quite amusing to watch herself floundering and quip irritated for lack of information... Except during times like these where she herself was the victim of her own ego-maniacal scheming. The Guardian of Pluto scowled with the realization.

When did I become such a masochist?

Ranma Saotome staggered as his legs found a solid footing once more, the all consuming nausea fading as he gulped down desperate breath. The martial artist calmed himself and his breathing upon realizing he was no longer being subjected to forces that he couldn't even attempt to understand and was, in fact, standing on his own two feet; beneath them... grass?

He blinked at the discovery, staring at the grass in surprise for a full thirty seconds before pulling his eyes away from the discovery to take in the rest of his surroundings. His next find was equally shocking. A park? What the hell am I doing in a park? It was a sharp contrast from the void he had just stepped out of, but it was a park in every sense of the word; Grass, trees, people meandering along... That was the Saotome's first stumbling block. Kids and adults were enjoying the area under the clear blue sky, all of them dressed oddly, in robe like garments. That fact was actually minor compared to the architecture he found on the horizon. It was a city skyline the likes he had never seen, and his eyes traced up along impossibly tall crystal spires in disbelief, then stopped just above them as they nearly rolled out of their sockets in disbelief.

Earth.

The faded crescent hung peacefully above the horizon, it's predominantly blue features faded against the lighter blue of the sky. Even so, it loomed large, making it impossible to mistake the land mass of southern Asia speckled by swirls of white clouds. Ranma stared for nearly two minutes this time, trying to reason through the logical discontinuity. He wasn't an astronomy expert, but school had taught him there was only one place the Earth could be seen like he was seeing it now, but...

…But that's impossible, Ranma blinked, taking stock of his surroundings once more. Green. People. City. The moon had none of those last he checked. In fact, last he checked it was nothing but dust and craters. A teenage couple walked across his path and the teen moved to gain their attention.

"Hey, excuse me—" They continued walking and Ranma's face crinkled with annoyance. He let them go and instead targeted an older lady walking her dog. "Auntie, can you tell me..."

His voice trailed off as leaned over to scruff her dog, mumble intelligibly to him and continue on her way. Another man walked by, this one in white slacks and a similarly styled double breasted tunic. The uniform looked official to Ranma and he decided to be more forceful in his inquiries. His hand snatched out to grab the stranger by the arm only to watch it pass through his body, causing Ranma to stumble slightly off balance.

"What the--!"

Even the exclamation failed to halt the man, leaving Ranma to stare at his own hand, the man, then back. It looked solid enough, but...

He replayed the woman's obtuse explanation in his brain, extracting what he could from Meiou's soup of techno babble. No idea what a 'self contained temporal bubble' or 'terminal causality loop' is, but 'look not touch' appears to fit what just happened exactly. Ranma chewed on the matter further, coming to the most simplistic conclusion available given his meager knowledge of her explanation. She mentioned something about the past... So I'm in a bubble... In the past... and can't touch the world around me?

Ranma rubbed his temples, realizing how completely unbelievable his interpretation sounded, but studied his environment further. The crystal skyscrapers caressing the sky were like none he had ever seen before, that much was certain, but even that paled compared to the fact that Earth was hanging there behind them. The people and their weird clothing were almost not even worth mentioning after that. A small oval pod thing streaked across the horizon silently.

Woman must have mess up or something, Ranma frowned, tracking the vehicle and a couple of its cousins. They were too small to be airplanes and lacked proper wings to begin with. Looks more like the future...

The pigtailed boy simply shook his head. What to do? Even if Meiou-san is psycho, she sent me here for a reason... His eyes wandered back to the crystal spires. Those aren't too far away... less the twenty kilometers. Could be there in under an hour...

His decision made, Ranma was gone from the park at an easy pace that still had him covering distance quickly, even more so once he found out just how insubstantial he was by accidentally running into one of the air pod things. It had descended out of nowhere directly into the path of his next rooftop leap and what should have resulted in something messy for either himself or the pod turned into a nonevent as he flew right through it like a ghost.

He skidded to a halt on the next roof with a twitching cheek, whipping around as the vehicle continued along unhindered. He had seen nearly every layer of the thing upon passing through; Chassis, wires, pink crystals and even the guts of its clearly human occupants. Granted, it was better than destroying the thing outright, but it was also creepy.

Damn creepy.

Ranma shivered with the recollection, but turned back down his vector of travel, leaping out toward the next roof and fortunately avoiding any further collisions before finally taking to the inner city streets where his gawking resumed with earnest. Most of the traffic was pedestrian in nature, though the number of hovering pod things darting too and fro had increased as well.

The crystal monoliths soared above him now, allowing him to take in every detail of their kilometer range height. Sunlight refracted throughout their frosted structure as people carried on with their business, crossing from building to building via long, spindly crystalline bridges. A pair of children ran by, their laughter pulling Ranma away from the shimmering heights and back to the street. The new focus of attention prompted Ranma to study the surface layout of his immediate location, noting that the area didn't seem to have a proper street, just a series of walkways branching out from a main avenue that intercepted at several points with a number of green parks interspersed at the skyscraper's foundations.

Ranma meandered down the main artery of foot traffic, annoyed as a person seemed to pass through him every now and then, but otherwise soaking up the details around him. Aside from the architecture and the fact that the Earth hung just to the right of the sun, it was like any other city he had toured. People talked and walked, ate and... well, he didn't know what they were doing with those palm sized squares in their hands, but all in all, behaved like people in every city he had been to. Sure, they occasionally stepped onto those pink crystal platforms to disappear in a flash of light or got picked up by a flying pod car, but... Ranma shrugged, trying not to think on the oddities too hard. The fully animated advertisements floating in the air free of support were unnerving enough.

While interesting, his aimless wandering quickly became boring without any interaction with the world around him and he began to scout out a path to one of the lower spire rooftops. It wouldn't allow him to see around its larger cousins, but it would give him and idea of the general layout of the city at large.

Five leaps and some scrambling later brought him just high enough to step on to one of the lower sky bridges above the main street. The new view was rather enlightening as he could now see a good two thirds of the city from his vantage point, including a massive crystal dome sitting prominently at the city's core.

Is it cracked? Blue eyes scrutinized the dome closely, finding the cracks weren't cracks at all, but section cut away from the hemisphere in geometric patterns, revealing another dome beneath it. Fancy, he mused, continuing his observations. From the structure's apex, a crystal tower climbing into the heavens. Light glanced across its edge, refracting the sun's beam into an impossible kaleidoscope of prismatic color. And I thought Hong Kong was all that, Ranma stared breathlessly at the unreal sight. Probably the capital if I had to guess... Maybe a good place to start--

Ranma paused as a low, mournful pitch caught his ears, echoing from below. He wandered to the edge, looking down at the pedestrian traffic that had ceased all movements. Now what?

"...move to emergency shelters in an orderly fashion," The echo thrown words floated up to him, peaking his curiosity. "...repeat; The Queen has issued a state of emergency has for Luna Ray and the surrounding provinces..."

State of Emergency? The words had just begun to process when the entire world turned white, the entire crystal city refracting an impossibly bright flash through its streets. The intensity alone dazed the martial artist for a moment before he recovered, spinning around and running to the opposite ledge of the bridge to find its source. The sight made his blood run cold, and for the first time in a good long time, Ranma feared as he tracked an angry, incandescent ball of fire clawing its way into the sky some fifty kilometers out.

The panicked riot breaking out below went unnoticed to the teen as he stared at a sight impressed into every Japanese youth from a very young age. The monstrous inferno curled in upon itself as it rose higher, forming into the classic mushroom cloud the analytical portion of brain was expecting while the ground around the site was consumed in a wave of fire. He watched, and something about that wave clicked. There was something else about a nuclear blast he should be remembering; something—

Oh shit.

He barely noticed the wave front of compressed air racing across the suburbs, flattening the weaker structures outright and washing across the sturdier ones before being channeled into the lower city streets like a thundering gale. Crystal shrieked and Ranma braced as the vortex slammed into the spires around him, shearing entire sections away from their structure while his own bridge buckled wildly beneath his feet. Any pedestrian that had been on the bridge with him was instantly carried away and the martial had no time to marvel at the lack of physics being imposed on his person when another flash lit off further in the distance, spawning a second nuclear inferno. Then a third. This time he caught the streamers of atmosphere descending from on high as a fourth and fifth detonated, his eyes following their vectors from the sky.

Who the hell is dropping these things?!

Any speculation on the matter ceased as number six detonated less than twenty kilometers out, vaporizing the northern suburb as it is had never existed and sending a tidal wave of fire washing into the outer edge of the great crystal city. Skyscrapers burned and shattered as unfathomable heat transferred into their structures and another blast wave exploded across his bridge, tearing it away from its supports while the kilometer high building above him began to crumble black shards.

The bridge was blown away. Ranma simply fell, shocked that the same energy hadn't expended itself on his person as well. He twisted around and prepared for a hard landing, only to be surprised again as he touched down in crouch without nearly as much inertia as he should have impacted with. Maybe something to do with Meiou-san's--

CRUNCH!

One moment, he had been standing up from his crouch; the next, silvery-white filled his vision before forcing him tumbling across the ground. Ranma recovered and stared at the giant piece of smoldering crystalline scaffolding that had literally landed on his head. Sirens wailed around him and secondary explosions lit off as Ranma began to gain a better understanding of the physics governing him. Okay, can't touch anything and can't be blown away, but if somethin' bigger occupies the same space as me, I get forced out of it...

Another all consuming flash lit the angry, grayish red sky. Light reflected through the scorched remains of the crystal skyscrapers, illuminating the burning streets and panicked survivors in a sickly light for a moment before darkening once more. Bodies and air pods had been deposited at uneven angles up and down the boulevard among the survivors while fire had ignited anything flammable. Another fifty meter slab of crystal flaked off from far above, crashing into the ground down and into another group of people, crushing them instantly. Ranma stared. He had seen property damage in his day and even participated in the demise of two mountains, but none of those had involved any sort of mass casualties like he was witnessing now. The people he had been watching had simply ceased to exist.

"Heeelllppp... heeeee...." A weak voice hissed from under a crumpled air pod and Ranma responded, running over to the deformed vehicle to find a bloodied arm reaching out from beneath. The martial artist moved to grab the chassis on instinct only to watch in horror as his hand simply passed through the structure ineffectually.

"Sonofabitch!" He snarled, frantically trying to find a hand hold on the vehicle, only to watch as the arm slacken and fall limp. Trauma, he rationalized, staring in detached shock. Would have probably died anyway... Ranma looked at his seemingly solid hands and a smoldering anger ignited as he thought on the person who had sent him here to witness the apocalypse.

Me and that woman are gonna have words.

Another two dull flashes lit the sky and he judged the detonations too far away to matter by their intensity. Sirens continued to wail in the distance, and he hoped some of them were moving toward his position, if only for the sake of the wounded and buried and especially given his own ineffectual state. A smaller flash lit off from above and he cringed reflexively before realizing it was too small and hadn't reflected through the remains of the city. Help maybe?

He searched the roiling clouds for the familiar streamlined profile of functional air pods, only to find something completely different.

Wings.

It was at least thirty meters in length with three heads stemming from three equally long necks. Its altitude made making out fine detail against the unnatural overcast next to impossible, but it clearly had six limbs, four jagged wings and a trailing spiked tail. Ranma blinked as recognition processed. He had seen and even fought something similar before. A dragon. He tracked the form for a moment before another flash pulsed twenty meters to the dragon's right, belching another reptilian form. Two more flashes and another two dragons joined the growing formation, feeding the dread forming in the Saotome's gut.

This cannot be good, he decided as the flashed continued, adding to the draconian ranks until there wasn't at least some portion of the sky occupied by one or more of their number. They circled wide rings at altitude until some unheard signal was received, prompting them to dive in one by one. The mangle of wreckage around him prevented him from seeing their high speed plummeting, but the fiery glow and their return to altitude with flames trailing from all three mouths gave him a good idea as to what the things were doing.

They were finishing off the survivors.

"Fuck that," Ranma growled as he tracked one of the dragons dived into his portion of the burning city, lining up along the very street he stood. The target was obvious; a small group of wounded huddled at the base of nearby building. A blue aura ignited around the boy and he brought his left arm to bear on the streaking creature as it descended to rooftop altitudes. "MOKO TAKABISHA!"

The two meter wide ball of hardened Ki streaked out as the dragon leveled off for the terminal phase of its attack run, taking the attack squarely into its massive chest and blowing over Ranma completely unharmed. The teen's eyes widened as the ball streaked into the sky unhindered while a roar bellowed at his back, the street suddenly dancing in firelight. Screams pierced the night, but were quickly silenced.

He couldn't bear to turn back to the results of the draconic burning and instead watched as the hated beast ascended back into the heavens. There had to be he could get out to kill that—

Ranma's unspoken prayers were answered moments later as lines of orange stabbed into the sky, lining up with the monster and carving it in two. YES, Ranma grinned ferally as the ground launched reprisal was quickly joined by other similar retaliations, dropping any dragon not fast enough to maneuver out of the sky in pieces. He savored another dragon getting bisected by a ground based lance before making a quick calculation based on his position and the view of the city he had earlier.

Let's see, I was up there, the martial artist determined, looking up at the ruined spires and the bridge that used to be attached. And the beams are coming from over there. He oriented himself back along the remains of the boulevard and came to a conclusion. Looks like somebody's making a stand at the fancy dome...

The martial artist advanced down the street at a rapid clip, hoping over the wreckage and purposely ignoring the bodies as he navigated the ruins. Occasionally he would pass a small groups of survivors who took no noticed of him as he bounded past, making good time toward his destination when his warning sense kicked in suddenly. Ranma skidded to a halt, freezing in place as he attempted to discern the source. Dragons in the sky, but those beams are keeping 'em busy... The moment afforded him notice of yet more of the surreal landscape.

Snow? The flake drifted down between Ranma's eyes and touched the earth, only to disintegrate into finer powder upon impact. Ranma frowned, turning back to the sky as the flake was joined by more of its brethren. Ash. Fallout.

Then, the very air around him shuddered and his danger sense spiked. Even though whatever it was probably couldn't affect him, Ranma braced and watched as the space no less than ten meters away folded in upon itself, distorting like a cheesy plastic mirror. It flexed once more and the first one stepped out; bony, horns, vaguely female, but clearly not human. The sickly purplish pink biped was immediately joined by another hunching entity, and then another. Within minutes, an entire platoon of the things had manifest themselves in the ruined street, finally joined by a taller, more intelligent looking version of the beasts. The amour and piercings all but screamed 'leader' to Ranma's intuition and he took cover behind a crystal slab on the off chance that whatever was shielding him failed in that moment. The group of nearly fifty began to spread out, sniffing at the air eagerly, like predators on the hunt.

It didn't take long for them to zero in on the nearest group of survivors.

Shell shocked and wounded, the men, women and children numbering less than fifteen simply stared, barely comprehending what they were seeing. Ranma comprehended it quite clearly.

"RUN!"

As if triggered by his own words, the armored female yelled something incoherent and a howl went up throughout the ranks of what he could only identify as demons. The charge commenced. It took another second for the survivors to fully comprehend the danger, but their fates were sealed. The hunters were faster, stronger, and completely without injury.

"RUN YOU IDIOTS!"

They ran, for all the good it did them. Claws sprang out from the monsters finger tips and one by one, the survivors were slashed down and ripped apart before Ranma's very eyes. The children hit him the hardest and a boiling red aura began to creep along his body. The martial arts heir closed his eyes, opening up all of his formidable senses to the world around him and more importantly, to the bubble holding him captive. Another scream fed the night and he found the barrier at the very edge of his perception. Ki strobed along its surface, feeling out the width and breadth of his invisible prison.

There.

A fault.

Ranma's index finger extended as howling and killing intent filled the air around him. His whisper was heard by no one else.

"Bakusai Tenketsu."

BOOOOoooMMM!

The three nearest youma were turned to paste by the resulting explosion, simply disappearing in the resultant cloud of debris. The lead youma whirled around, watching it dissipated to reveal a boy staring death into her with cool blue eyes. His arms were already crossed at the chest to form an 'X' and his words would be the last she'd ever hear.

"Now it's time to die."

Setsuna Meiou sighed as another holographic log scrolled in the space before her, dumping its calibration information dutifully for her perusal. If one had to gauge the progress of the calibration Setsuna had set in motion nearly a week ago, it could be said to have finally arrived somewhere in the vicinity of her present day, that is to say the rise of Indus-Sarasvati empire at around 4300BC.

The Guardian sighed, polling her internal chronometer. Technically, she could have had Ranma return within five minutes of his departure, such was the malleable nature of the temporal physics she was employing in his guided tour of the past. Could have, yes, but then he would return full of questions she would be obliged to answer, further stalling the Time gate's return to one hundred percent operational status. With that in mind, she set a delay of five hours; more than enough time to ensure everything on her end was set by the time the temporal bubble completed its round trip.

Still, it was damn boring.

"Gate, I'm going to take a break," She decided, pinching her nose. "Spot check grids—"

"Warning," The pleasantly smiling girls eyes widened. "I am detecting a power fluctuation in Saotome's temporal buffer."

"Reinforce it," Setsuna frowned, mulling over what would cause the aberration.

"Complying," the girl nodded. Suddenly her eyes turned red and posture stiffened, "Temporal buffer breached! Time wave detected; thirty two hundred chronoms in strength!"

"Time to impact?" Setsuna whirled around as the requisite information was conjured before her. One of the images was a three dimensional composite of their timeline and branching probabilities with the time wave moving alone it like a spike.

"Thirty seconds," The child AI reported, its eyes scrolling with data now. "Temporal shielding reads nominal, no exponential rise in the event. I should be able to deflect its potential."

Setsuna's attention flicked away from the three dimensional image to another, this one showing the status of Ranma's own temporal buffer. If I can stabilize it and return him to... her cheek twitched. The bubble was gone. Completely destroyed. That means...

"Emergency recall, NOW!"

"Impact, minus twenty," the AI counted. "Attempting to resolve Saotome's time-space coordinates... Wave interference preventing a lock."

Damndamndamndamn, Setsuna fumed as she watched the time wave advance into their present. The good new was that it wasn't gaining in strength. Thirty two hundred chronoms was well within the time gate's ability to compensate for, though it might not be the last. The bad news, however...

"Impact, minus five."

...The bad news was that Ranma Saotome was now capable of participating in the Fall of the Silver Millennium.

"Impact."

"Impact," A soldier in gray speckled fatigues called from behind a curved holo-visor that wrapped around his eyes, surveying the a singular explosion along the advancing youma lines with digital enhancement. "Short fifteen meters."

"Got it," Another rushed to make recalculate the trajectory, feeding the new calculations in through a holographic keyboard at the side of the side of the cannon. "Fifteen meters... mark."

"Fire for effect."

CRaCK!CRaCKCRaCKCRaCKCRaCK!!

The massive tri-barreled artillery piece made a slight adjustment to its angle at the operator's command, then rotated one barrel clockwise before spearing the radioactive twilight with a half megaton ball of plasma. It was immediately followed by another and then a third as the massive weapon came up to speed, dispensing white hot death along the demonic advance. The Lieutenant smiled as the front line disappeared, immolated by the white firestorm unleashed at a range of eight hundred meters. It was a short lived smile as the thunder halted abruptly after only twenty salvos, and more youma flowed forth to replace their brethren.

"Crystals in cool down," The gunner reported evenly, even though the red hot glow of the heat sinks fins along the massive weapon's chassis indicated the obviousness of the statement. "Live in ten seconds!"

"Override the bitch," He snarled, watching as the range indicator painting his target decreased steadily even though other positions were pouring in similar fire into their lines. "I need thirty pulses out of Lena or those youma are going to bend Fire Line three over hard."

"We're pushing the curve as it is, LT," The gunner replied nervously, but programmed in the necessary override. The alternatives were worse by far. "She's gonna kick our ass for this."

"Fire."

The cannon whirled to life again as the thunder began anew, blasting the advancing demons into fire and atoms. The officer mentally counted the bolts as they arced in, gritting for each count over twenty. Jax was spot with the warning, and he knew his position couldn't keep up this rate of fire without something happening; something bad.

The best case scenario was watching one of the controllers fry out. The worst case was an overstressed projector crystal overheating and blasting them all into the next life. They had already pushed those odds by executing over eighty back to back fire missions; twenty five past the recommended rotation cycle.

Twenty eight... twenty nine... THIRTY.

"Cool down, ten seconds," Even his gunners voice drained of tension as the cycle completed and the Barrier Cannon known unofficially as 'Lena' powered down. One look at the heat fins told them both everything they needed to know. Every last one was lit up like a filament. A normal cool down cycle wasn't going to be enough and the Lieutenant knew that the artillery piece only had a couple more cycles left in her. Still, it was either that or become youma food.

The lieutenant flipped the visor mic down over his mouth. "Battery command, this is aught eighty-eight, respond."

"Go." a female voice crackled back

"Lena's about to fold," He reported, staring as the heat sinks dimmed to a mere smoldering red. "Got about one, maybe two more cycles before catastrophic failure."

Silence pervaded the line for a few moments before the disembodied woman came back on line. "Acknowledged. Tie her into the command net and proceed to Fire Line Three."

Damn, the officer grimaced. He had been hoping the order would be to fall back to secondary positions. Of course, that assumed there were secondary positions to fall back to. "Roger, will call shots from fire line, out."

His gunner heard that the conversation as well, likewise frowning while his commander mentally coaxed his com to another channel. "Aught eighty-eight to Warhammer, respond."

"Warhammer." The male voice crackled though the sound lance fire.

"Last salvo, prepare for action." The lieutenant reported and the cussing that followed from the other end of the channel was intense, causing him to smile grimly. "That's what I said. We're coming down."

He turned back to his gunner, closing the channel by flicking the mic back away with a finger. "Pack it up, Jax!"

"Roger that!" He piped, tapping furiously along the keyboard. "Establishing direct command link... Done. Lena's on the wire."

The gunner pulled a pack and gun from a side compartment, strapping the former to his person and flicking a switch on the latter, causing it to whine ominously while his commander did the same. Both men slapped a crudely painted depiction of a redheaded woman wielding a fireball painted on the side of the Barrier Cannon for luck, then proceeded down the hillside they had been stationed on for the last six hours.

Visible now was the entire field of battle in all its glory from their new vantage point, as tides of youma advanced through the ruins Luna Ray while fire dropped in from other fixed positions. Lances of orange continue to spear the sky as they tracked the infernal dragons attempting to strafe the troops on the front lines, which just happened to be their destination as well. Occasionally the youma ranks would press close enough to be engaged by conventional beam weaponry, only to be sliced apart by the infantry dug in behind crysteel barriers.

Less than five minutes later, they were inside the front, the lieutenant saluting a commander clad in full crystalline battle armor. "Nice of you to join us down in Hell, Logan."

"Wouldn't miss it," The officer shook his head with the sarcasm, then grew serious. "Call your last shots."

The commander turned back to the field while mentally pulling up his own image of the battle field via internal hologram. "Six hundred meters out, straight ahead. Walk your gun across five degrees to clear that shit they're falling back to."

Lieutenant Logan pulled the commanders map, noting that the "shit" he was referring to used to be a prominent financial district, their buildings little more than burnt out husks being used for cover. He nodded to his gunner, who had flipped down his own mic.

"Aught Eighty-eight to Battery Command, slew to one-four five by one eighty six, elevation thirty." He called in the programming to battery command. "Walk fire five degrees left over ten seconds, confirm."

"Confirmed." A man responded this time.

"One round, execute." He ordered and the gun boomed from the hill at their backs, launching a single mini nova into the overcast and anti air fire. It arcing back down and slamming into one of the offending structures beyond, obliterating it. The lieutenant watched the impact and gave the gunner a single nod. He keyed the channel again. "Full salvo, fire for effect."

The gun was fully automated now and responded to Battery Command's programming, lighting up the sky. Thirty pulses blasted out over the next ten seconds, turning whatever cover the advancing youma army had been using into incandescent balls of fire that sprang up violently across a length of one hundred meters.

"Zero Eight-Eight in cool down, ten seconds." The command channel operator reported and the Lieutenant turned to the line commander by his side.

"Might want to tell your boys and girls to hunker down for this one," He crooked a smile.

"Give us some breathing room with whatever you got left, then," The Commander nodded, turning back to his line and the troops firing from it with a bellow. "HAMMERS, PREPARE FOR CLOSE FIRE SUPPORT!"

"One hundred meters off the line," The officer relayed to his gunner. "Walk it out."

"Got it," He replied, keying his mic. "Aught Eighty-eight to Battery Command, modify seventy degrees elevation, transverse down three degrees over fifteen seconds."

"Confirmed."

"Fire for effect," He ordered, purposely skipping the test round.

CRaCK!CRaCKCRaCKCRaCK—BOOOOOOM!

Ten rounds of plasma successfully exited the tri-barrel artillery piece. Round number thirteen was formed successfully and transmitted into a projector crystal, where its energy resonated catastrophically along a hairline crack in barrel number two. A half megaton's worth of plasma flared and detonated along the fault, vaporizing the barrel and shattering crystals one and three in the process.

Lena disappeared in lethargic fireball, raining her displeasure down along the dug in troops expecting the event. Lieutenant Logan Asazi didn't even bother to take cover as he watched his artillery piece disappear into a piecemeal mushroom cloud. Still, the ten rounds that it had successfully spawned had their effect, flashing out into the encroaching youma and carving a two hundred meter corridor of death into their advance. Demons died by fire, their instant immolation rallying confidence through the ranks. It was a short lived confidence. Ground was burned and monsters reduced to ash, but more took their place.

"Was afraid of that," The Commander frowned, staring through the magnified image of his own visor. He flipped it up, ignoring the questioning look from the Lieutenant and turning to one of his own officers on the line. "Brockman! Get everything we got left down here, yesterday!"

The officer nodded and was gone, leaving the Commander to explain to the former artillery officer. "Something smart out there noticed your gun cook off and they're doubling their efforts along our front. Shit's about to hit the antimatter."

Lieutenant Asazi digested the turn of events then flipped his own com down. "Oh-eight-eight to battery command, requesting fire mission for Fire Line Three."

The line remained silent for a moment before crackling back. "Negative Oh-eight-eight. All batteries are fully engaged."

One look at the sky told him that. Every hilltop was alive with fire, sending bolts of plasma arcing off into discrete points along the horizon with minimal downtime. The pulsing whine of lance fire picked up in intensity around him.

"Nothing?" Commander Forge held him with a grim look, to which he replied with the barest nod. The officer chuckled tersely as more soldiers rushed passed to take positions along the line. "Artillery support is overrated anyway… Mister Reynolds!"

A hunching sergeant materialized at the commander's side, offering an abbreviated salute as the graying officer pulled a short crystal blade from his left hip and sliding it into place along the underside of his lance, locking it into place with a snap. "Pass the word: Slack fire and suck 'em in; max fire on my command."

The soldier was off with quick nod and Commander Forge flicked a switch on his weapon, eliciting a high pitched whine as it powered up before turning back to Asazi. "Grab a blade. We're going to be ass deep in youma any minute now."

The artillery captain scrambled to a nearby weapons rack as the old soldier faced his lines, the same lines the demonic horde was now drawing perilously close to. Sporadic fire continued to check their advance, but the hellish machine continued to grind forward with renewed purpose. There was no artillery support along this front and the intelligence driving the Youma had spotted the weakness with ruthless efficiency.

"RRRrrrraaaAAARRRRRRHHH!"

Commander Forge nodded to himself as the expected surge from the unholy army closed within one thousand meters of his own. They were charging at full speed now, fully expecting to shatter his position. They might do just that, the veteran reasoned grimly. Attrition was going to be a bitch to overcome, but he be damned if there'd be enough of the monsters left to make an effective drive into One Senate Square and the Queen herself.

"WARHAMMERS! READY ON THE LINE!"

The heavy lances his men had held in reserve for just this moment came to bear, their sharp points probing outward from the crysteel barriers even as soldiers with more conventional weapons picked out their targets. Their orders had been communicated with absolute clarity… Max fire on command, no need for power conservation.

The commanding officer watched unflinchingly as the demonic horde closed the distance with all the unnatural speed infernal weapons of war could attain. Sensors duly noted the range tick down for him and the Hammer's fire continued to maintain its harassing effect. Eight hundred meters. Seven hundred. Six… Five… Close enough.

"FIRE!"

The lead ranks of the charging youma ceased to exist as a wall of blue light washed across it and through several more behind them. The high energy lances danced and weaved lines of energy fire into the mass, incinerating the possessed Terran population and lesser youma outright while maiming anything mounting anything less than field plate. To the casual observer it would have looked like a complete slaughter, except for the fact that the youma just kept coming. It was a slower advance now, but it was still an advance and Field Commander Forge watched as the range continued to tick down to four hundred meters.

The larger six legged demons were the hardest to bring down as they lumbered onto the field of battle. Oh sure, they were probably the easiest target to engage, but the they were all horns, fangs and wore several inches of what looked to be vorium plating, in addition to having some caster-type demon protecting them with their own personal force field.

Forge's cheek ticked with the observation. Those would make life difficult if even one survived to their lines.

"KILL THE RIDERS!"

Three hundred meters. The lumbering siege youma were going down, but not fast enough. There were a dozen or so visible from his position alone and every lance expended upon them was one less to divert the tide of lesser youma streaming around them. It really didn't matter which would reach them first because the outcome would be the same either way. The cost of this push for the enemy would be enormous. But compared to the gains, the officer thought grimly to the foregone conclusion. What's a few thousand youma when you could simply summon more from whatever hell they were gating in from?

A guided hyper velocity rocket penetrated the shielding of another siege youma, blowing a massive chunk out of its left flank and completely tearing off two legs. It continued to lumber on, albeit at a crippled pace.

Two hundred meters.

"Platoons Three, five and Eight, fall back to the slope," The veteran keyed his mic, opening a channel to his men and women on the line. "Set up covering fire along the ridge." Battle armor began to file past him to take up their secondary positions and he mentally nudged his comm back to the command channel. "Warhammer to Grandstand, priority."

"Grandstand, go."

The commander loosed a labored sigh as the signal crackled back. "We're about to get sacked here. Recommend moving available units into One Senate Square to route the break through, over."

The line remained silent for a moment, giving the line's senior officer a chance to look out into the demonic horde pushing against beamed annihilation.

One hundred meters.

"Negative, Warhammer…"

Negative!? If command didn't get anything into position--!

"…Hold what you got, special assets inbound."

Hold what we've got? The Captain watched the youma line throw itself against his line of fire. Sure, they were dying, but not nearly fast enough to stop the inevitable breach. Whatever those inbound special assets were—

BOOOoooM!

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

A bolt of shimmering blue streaked down from the sky and detonated within the lead most ranks of the demonic advance, wavering momentarily in compression before detonating violently. Anything at ground zero was instantly turned into a fine mist as a wave of over pressure washed across front, causing the infernal charge to stagger. Even as the dome of pressure continued to expand and rend youma limb from limb, another bolt fell deeper into the monstrous tide, gutting their forces in depth. The two blasts expended themselves and a solid beam of light blue energy followed, carving trenches through the earth and bisecting the survivors with uncanny accuracy.

A grim smile formed along the Captain's lips as three women dropped into the decimated ranks and began to unleash magical devastation at ground level. "Two, five and eight, back on the line! I'll be damned if the Senshi find us sitting back here sipping cocktails while they clean house!"

Lance fire poured into the surviving forces around the Senshi with renewed intensity, increasing the youma casualties at an exponential rate. The slaughter continued unabated for another five minutes before the horde's moral broke completely, sending the demonic force into a terrified retreat.

For now, the Captain mused darkly as the survivors were cut down and the Queen's Guardians withdrew to his lines. The Damned would undoubtedly regroup, reinforce and attack this front again. The grim smile found his lips once more as the trio of Senshi made their way towards him. But they'd damn sure think twice about their next assault after the pasting they just received.

"Commander Forge," He snapped to attention as the women closed on him, introducing himself. "Thank you for your timely intervention, Guardians. It might have gotten a little… hairy otherwise."

"Our pleasure, Captain," The blue haired woman nodded; Mercury, he noted silently. "What is the current status of your forces?"

"Attrition warfare is wearing us thin, Guardian Mercury," He shook his head taking the three women in as a whole. Her partner was a lithe blonde, balancing an immense crystal broad sword on her right shoulder. Beside her was a slightly taller brunette with no weapons to speak of, though it had been her initial salvo that broke up the youma advance. Senshi Venus and Senshi Jupiter…

"My command is looking at forty percent casualties since the invasion kicked off and we just lost our main heavy battery. That last push bit hard into our energy reserves too… We'll probably need to rotate our forces in sooner for recharge since that's probably not the last push we'll see from the bastards."

"They're pressing us hard on every front," The blonde's blue eyes flashed fiercely. "We were on our way to try and flank their forces when we got word of what was happening down here."

"I'm just happy the Queen was able to collapse the gates they were lobbing nukes in from," The Senshi of Jupiter frowned, looking back out across the youma armies that were regrouping on the horizon. "Speaking of which, are they still holding to the southeast?"

"Still holding," Mercury confirmed, consulting her hand held uplink to the Lunar mainframe. "I'd almost say they're staging forces in the core of the city, but they're too far behind the main line to reinforce anything effectively."

"Then we go with the original plan," Venus nodded, bring the sword off her shoulder and slicing it dramatically through the air. "We'll start with that group and gut their front lines from behind."

"I'll stay behind here for heavy fire support," The brunette added. "Last thing we need is a break through during our shining offensive, right?"

"Right," Venus smiled, levitating into the air. Mercury followed her lead as a soft glow enveloped the two. "Let's go and take them out before they know what hit them!"

Both girls were suddenly gone with the Senshi's proclamation, disappearing across the horizon in pink streaks of light. Jupiter and the Captain watched the pair disappear before turning to one another, the veteran smiling.

"Welcome to Fire Line three, Guardian Jupiter."

The brunette smiled back, eyes twinkling. "The pleasure is all mine."

"Three kilometers out," Mercury advised to her counterpart as the pair streaked through the air, dodging the occasional anti-air fire salvo sent up at them. "Still concerned about those high power spikes, though."

"All the more reason to flatten them before they get out of hand," Venus commented as they descended into the general airspace of their target. "Time to—"

A series of flashes from within the ruined city core halted her next words and one of the smaller buildings suddenly sank into the skyline lethargically.

"What the hell?"

"Indeed," Mercury murmured softly as they threaded through the devastated city and toward what was obvious shaping up to be a battle in progress before them. She flipped her battle visor down and began to take readings. "Reading three hundred and fifty two youma and…" Her voice took on a note of surprise. "…One human."

"I gotta see this," Venus decided, gaining altitude and a better view of the conflict. Anybody out in the open with anything less than full field plate and a high yield plasma lance was youma food. Anybody still alive without that gear or a planetary binding had to be seen to believed.

At four hundred meters, the combatants were little more than speck among the burnt out remains of sky scrapers and streets, but the war they were waging was obvious. What the Guardian saw had all the hallmarks of a slaughter, except for the fact that despite being completely surrounded on all sides, that one person was successfully holding off a substantial force of youma. Her eyes widened as two blue flashes of energy launched away the center, ripping through the demon masses to the front and left.

"Correction, three hundred and forty-one," Mercury reported, floating up along side her to view the action. "That's pure life force he's fighting with…"

"A Ki-dancer?" Venus wondered aloud, whistling with incredulity. "Don't see those everyday…." She looked at her partner with a feral smile. "Shall we?"

Mercury shared in her smile to a lesser degree. "We shall."

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!"

"Venus Shining Strike!"

Three bolts of hyper dense water dropped into the throng surrounding the single human, detonating on impact to freeze the demonic horde instantly. Venus was in free fall directly behind the attack, heaving her crystal claymore directly into the earth upon landing. The already scarred street top split into a wide trench with the strike, shattering into a long crag that belched fire and rock while consuming the frozen youma outright. Mercury landed beside her and her power flared once more, this time enveloping the area in a thick mist.

"That should buy us some time," She commented, taking stock of the situation on the ground while Venus finished off the youma in her personal space. "He's thirty meters this way."

The blue haired Senshi led the way, manifesting her own sword of ice to chop down an encroaching youma while Venus covered her back, beheading another of the vaguely female demons. Its horned head rolled across the ground before flaming to ash. She glanced over her shoulder. "They're wary now, but they won't stay that way for long."

Especially not with a Ki dance running around, she mused grimly. Somebody with that much organized life force was all but a flashing holo screaming 'EAT ME' to any demon that happened by.

Another of the beasts jumped out of the fog, only to take a spear of ice to the chest courtesy of her partner. It fell and two more charged in blindly from the mist, homing in on the noise. Venus whirled around with her blade, only to watch a girl blur in and take the lead demon with a flying roundhouse, diverting it hard into the ground before lining up with the other. It closed to point blank range and seemed almost ready to claw her down before its victim melted around to its exposed right flank, raking its torso with the knife edge of her hand before disengaging completely. The Youma staggered for a moment before sliding apart into two separate pieces along the exact line the girl had touched. The first youma staggered to its feet, only to have a gaping whole blown into its chest for the effort. It looked at the wound, then the girl who had nonchalantly dispensed the lethal Ki blast, then fell to ground inert.

"I thought you said 'he'," The Guardian blinked while the redhead ignored them, scanning for more targets. Mercury checked the readings from her hand link. He was obviously a she, since the shredded clothing left little to the imagination. She was also wounded, cut in several places and trailing blood from numerous claw marks.

"That's what the scan said…" The guardian looked at the readings, perplexed. Same life force profile, different gender. Odd.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," The clearly exhausted, bloody girl finally turned her attention to her would be saviors, sniffing with humor deeply at odds with her condition and the situation at hand.

Odd, Mercury decided, but minor compared to the growling youma that were beginning to regain their nerve. "We need to go. Now."

"Right," The blonde nodded, turning back to the redhead. "Got enough left for a big finish?"

"Think I can scrape something together."

The Guardian smiled. "Then let's give them something to remember us by."

Twenty minutes ago Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts was in the fight of his life, neck deep in an unending tide of sub-human creatures looking to slaughter him as mercilessly as they had the former occupants of the ruined city they were raiding.

The feeling was mutual.

For the next hour, Ranma killed. The first duty of a martial artist was to protect those who could not protect themselves, but those people were gone. Dead. Cut down and devoured. Vengeance wasn't a driving force in Ranma Saotome's life, but today, stuck in the future and impossibly far from home, the slain cried out for him and he answered with every tool he had learned over the last fourteen years as a martial arts prodigy. Somewhere in the back of his brain as he cut down the first youma with the forbidden schools, he knew it was neither smart or wise decision, but somehow necessary.

The first of his attackers died by vacuum blade and Ki, but not before they could call others to the fight. Ranma killed them as well. And killed. And killed. At some point, the novelty of counting the slain wore off and he simply wove death through the ever increasing numbers of youma looking to feed on him. Eventually, retreat became an impossibility, but the martial artist had already resolved to take every last creature down with him… It was an easy concept to rationalize—Every demon he could tie up here was one less to scour the city for survivors, and could tie up a lot of them.... Too many to survive, but he would go down with his honor intact.

Then the girls arrived. Magical girls dressed remarkably like the last time he had seen Meiou-san. Better yet, they brought firepower and as the blonde so aptly put, gave the demons something to remember them by. That was twenty minutes ago. Since then she had been carried- flown –to what was apparently the last bastion of humanity, the capitol of the Moon itself. The fact that she had to be carried to a safe zone was demeaning enough, but they were probably the first live people she had seen after an hour of non stop killing, so she swallowed her pride and let them fly her out.

"Please wait here, Miss Saotome," The girl she had come to know over there short flight as simply Mercury requested politely, herding her over to sit a group of refugees that were as ragged looking as she was. "A healer will be along shortly to attend to your wounds."

"Wait," Ranma brought the girl to a halt, slightly offended at being associated with the weak and helpless. "You're just going to leave me here?"

"Unfortunately the Queen needs her Guardians on the line," The Senshi explained in a gentle, but firm manner. "And while I'm not expert on Ki-dancers, I would say you're in no condition for the high intensity combat we're about to revisit."

"New orders, Mercury-chan!" The blonde- Venus, Ranma recalled –shouted from across the hangar converted shelter, waving her partner over. "Back on the clock!"

Mercury bowed apologetically. "I'm apologize, we must go."

With that, Ranma watched as the blue haired girl turned on a heel and rushed to join her comrade. She watched the pair exit the shelter, dejection setting in.

"And what the hell is a Ki dancer anyway?" She mumbled before turning to the group she had been paired with. Men, women and children composed the refugees, most of which held some form shell-shock in their visage.

"Did she tell you when the healer will be by?"

Ranma blinked with unexpected question, mostly due to the fact that she had been largely ignored upon her initial arrival in the future. She looked down at the older woman in her late fifties, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Uh, no," She stumbled momentarily. "Just said she would be by soon."

"That's something, I guess," The old woman returned, then grimaced with pain. "Lord, what I wouldn't do for a nerve stim right now."

"Truer words, Dame, truer words…" Another man leaning against a nearby support groaned. The bruises threading his body explained his pain easily enough. "Though it looks like the young dame here had a bad scrap herself."

Young dame… Ranma chewed in a moment of confusion before deciding the observation was direct at her. "Just a scratch. Get some food in me and I'll heal up soon enough."

To her surprise a small shiny rectangle was tossed in her direction, which she caught on reflex. The redhead stared at its reflective wrapper curiously.

"Keep it, got plenty plenty of them," the bruised man snorted. "Too bad they don't heal dislocated shoulders."

Ranma studied him for a moment before shrugging, "Shoulders are easy."

She knelt down beside the middle aged man and traced a single finger along the back of his shoulder, poking it once, then twice. The man gained a perplexed look. "My arm…"

"Hold still." Ranma anchored herself and shoved the arm up back into the socket, obtaining a meaty pop in the process and with it, her own nod of approval. She stood up, admiring her handiwork. "Ya should regain feeling in a few minutes, but try not to strain it too much."

The man looked up at her with wide eyes, producing a simple, surprised nod. She was about to turn her attention back to the mysterious, shiny square he had given her when a sad, rasping question caught her.

"I'm coughing up blood," A younger woman stood up, albeit unsteadily. "Can you help me too?"

"Eh…" Ranma wasn't a physician, but after years of training at the hands of her father, she knew injuries and their symptoms like the back of her hand, even if there wasn't a damn thing she could do about them. Bones could be set. Poisons countered. But unless the person in question already had a decent grasp of Ki…"Internal bleeding, I think… Look, I ain't a doctor, but—"

"But I am," A white robed woman with long cobalt blue hair smiled gently, stepping over to their group. With her was a sandy blond man in similar white slacks pushing a cart full of… Crystals? Ranma stared at the captive pink shards as they pulsed rhythmically to an unheard tempo.

"I am healer Avril, and my assistant Nana," She addressed the group at large, motioning to herself and the man beside her. "We will be passing these restoration crystals around to any of those in need. One per person should suffice."

The injured filed around Ranma to take their turn at the cart as the woman and her assistant oversaw the process. Blue eyes studied the activities curiously as a person would take a single crystal in hand and watched it fade into a dull pink, healing whatever physical trauma had been present prior to their handling. The man known as Nana collected the spent crystals, stacking them in a separate compartment as others took their turn.

"Sugoi…" Ranma mumbled to herself, watching lacerations seal themselves with the lightest wisp of smoke. She couldn't count the number of times one of those could have come in handy.

"And expert job with the arm, by the way Miss… Saotome?" Ranma turned, surprised to find the woman not only looking straight at her, but calling her by name. The woman known as Avril smiled gently at the reaction. "Don't look so shocked. Guardian Venus passed your name along as a person of interest."

"Not so sure about that, but the names Ranma, nice to meetcha" The martial artist favored her with a roguish grin and a shallow bow.

"You should take a crystal too," Avril offered, picking up one and proffering it to the martial artist. "From what I heard, you could probably use it."

"Um… Okay," The redhead reached for the shard carefully. While it was damn weird, who was she to refuse an instant healing crystal thing? She plucked the shard from the Healer, only to watch it go from pink to nearly black instantly. Ranma blinked, staring at it. "Eh, it's not my fault?"

"Of course not," Avril's smile took on the slightest edge of humor. "Take another one."

She did and the pink evaporated as quickly as it had before. Ranma stared with a slightly put out look. Now she was just feeling stupid. How hard was it to touch a crystal and—

"A Ki dancer indeed," The Healer hummed, studying Ranma intently now. The pout on the martial artist's face persisted. "Oh don't worry about those things. Your life force would be far too organized to be sated by a mere restoration crystal. Hold still please…"

Sensing no threat, Ranma did as the woman asked and allowed two gentle fingers to touch her forehead. The Healer mumbled something, prompting a light blue glow to envelope her, then Ranma herself. The redhead's eyes widened as she felt foreign power roil within her, seeking out her wounds with purpose and healing them outright. One of the scab-crusted slashes along her arm hissed with steam, knitting itself back together of its own accord. Avril held her touch to the girl's forehead for another moment before disengaging.

"That should do it." The Healer nodded. "Feel better?"

"I… that was…Yes…" Ranma's thoughts finally formed into a coherent sentence. "But what the hell was that?!"

Avril cocked her head, staring at her as if suddenly uncertain. The look of doubt lasted only for a moment before being replaced by a smile that reminded Ranma eerily of Kasumi. "That was a lesser healing prayer, though I did manage to underestimate just how depleted you really were. A greater prayer would have been more effective."

"Uh… yeah. Sure…" Ranma dissembled, still trying to make sense of what had just happened. Healing... that's obvious enough, she decided, but the fact that she could actually feel the repairs… "Thanks, I guess."

The woman inclined her head gracefully, then turned to her assistant. "Please assist this group with their needs. I will be back shortly." The blond nodded and Avril turned back to Ranma. "Walk with me if you would?"

"Okay?" Sure why not, Ranma snorted mentally. Not as if I'm stuck in a post apocalyptic future with anything better to do, right?

"If I may be so bold," Ranma followed the black haired healer as she led the way around the make-shift refugee shelter, continuing their conversation. "What is a Starlight doing so far from home?"

"Starlight..?"

"I must confess I usually don't pry into others personal lives," She explained amiably, "but your duality was rather hard to miss once I wove the spell into you."

My duality? She couldn't mean…? Ranma puzzled over the comment before coming to the most likely conclusion available. "Look, I really got no idea what's going on here. One moment I was on Earth, the next I'm here. If you know some way—"

The woman's head snapped around so fast it caused the redhead to stop short as green eyes fixed upon her with frightening intensity. "You can't be—Terra is--"

Ranma took a step back and the woman calmed herself with a deep breath, studying her charge with continued scrutiny. After another few moments the woman relented. "That is not information I would so easily divulge in mixed company young one, especially not with recent happenings."

"But I don't even know what recent happenings happened!" The martial artist blurted, her patience expiring abruptly. "Look, I was sent here by a Setsuna Meiou, ever heard of her? Goes by Pluto in her spare time? At least I'm hoping she's still around here in the…what?"

Avril simply stared, drawing the girl's rant to a halt. "The first name of a Guardian and Peer of the realm is not one to throw around lightly, Miss Saotome, let alone attributing your woes to her name."

"Green hair, red eyes, right?" Ranma continued, undaunted by the woman's persisting stare. "Sounds like she's still alive and kickin' at least. Probably an old maid by now though…"

"You would be ill advised—"

"Think she's around anywhere?" the redhead plowed forward, quite animated now and looking around on the off chance she would spot the person in question. "Don't suppose you can point me in the right direction, would ya?"

"One just does not go about summoning the Queen's Guardians for personal business in the middle of a war, young one," Avril frowned at the girl's impetuousness for another moment, then settled back into a stern, yet gentle countenance. "That's even assuming she's still on world, of course."

"Right. Pluto," Ranma made the obvious- if unbelievable -connection. She had been transported from an office building to the edge of the solar system then into the future and onto the moon. Why couldn't Meiou-san be 'off world'? She though with a mental roll of the eyes. "Suppose I'd need a spaceship or something for that, though…"

Only then did she notice the paling visage of the healer. "What now?"

"You really don't know, do you…?" The woman asked softly, as if finally putting several key pieces of the girl's behavior together.

"Tellin' ya the truth, lady," Ranma shook her head seriously now. "I just got here, watched 'em light off a few bombs and kill a whole bunch of people. I took out my share of the demons but trust me when I this, I've got no idea what's going on."

Avril weighed her claim for a moment before deciding to indulge the girl before her. "Those demons that you fought, they're everywhere. They came from Earth and a few other planets and embarked on a systematic mission to destroy all life."

"But I was just—"

"One minute the peoples of Terra were going about there lives and the next," Avril overrode the girl gently. "over ninety five percent of her population either vanished or were converted into the damned… A thriving world of over twenty billion replaced by those things." For once, Ranma stayed silent as the telling continued, a new found pit in her stomach deepening. "They took everybody by complete surprise, attacking the seat of the kingdom and its jewels. The Queen has organized a defense, but…"

It was Ranma's turn to stare now. The woman was serious. Absolutely serious. Last she heard, Earth didn't have nearly that many people, but this was the future by every measuring stick he had found so far… Would only make sense... Ranma decided, mulling over the facts. But that means…

"I was standing in line for the Queens Ball, if you can imagine it," Avril cut in on Ranma's darker thoughts, averting the inevitable conclusion she had been about to come to and the emotional baggage following in tow. The healer's voice took on a sadder note for her. "Adorned from head to toe in my finest when the first warnings sounded. My husband..." She gained a far away look for a moment, but snapped out of it. "I am a healer and this is a time for the living. Those other bridges are to be crossed later."

Ranma agreed with a single nod, likewise identifying the uncertain ground upon which she suddenly stood. If Setsuna was still alive, there was a good chance that the Tendos and some of the others were too… older, sure… maybe even his parents depending… Ranma banished the thought. Like the woman said, time for that later.

"Now, as I believe I have done you a favor," Avril continued upon noting Ranma's comprehension. "It is time for you to reciprocate; if only to simply indulge my own curiosity."

"Fair enough, I guess." The martial artist shrugged.

"Starlights are rare enough in the core worlds," The Healer appraised as they resumed their trek around the converted warehouse. "But a Ki-dancer as well? Combined with your distinct lack of knowledge concerning the current events of the moment and one can't help but to be a tad…"

"Okay, right. Think I got the idea," Ranma sighed, but honored his end of the agreement. "I ain't promisin' you'll believe me, but let's start with the fact that I think I'm in the future, sent forward my Meiou-san for God knows what reason. She said she was sending me to the past, but… Either way, I'm from Earth, don't know what a Ki-dancer is and last I checked, starlight is light from a star."

"Indeed." Avril returned in flat tone, eyebrow arched skeptically.

"Told ya so." Ranma snorted lightly. "Look, all I know is that woman—"

"Guardian Pluto." The black haired woman interrupted, stressing her correct title.

"Sure, Guardian Pluto," The redhead waved past the official title as if it were inconsequential. "Is that she dumped me off here in a future getting sacked by a shit load of youma without a clue. Needless ta say, I'm kinda anxious to be meetin' back up with her."

"It is a treacherous hour for such a lack of knowledge, young one," Green eyes stared down at the girl with eerie intensity. "Though it does appear as if your heart is in the right place, however dubious your story appears at face value."

"Hey!"

She held up a patient hand, warding away further objections. "I will forward your request through the proper channels. Beyond that, I make no guarantees."

Complaint hung on the tip of the redhead's tongue but she held it in check, affording some allowance for a woman who had literally healed an hours worth of battle damage in under fifteen second. "Alright, guess that'll have to do, but what am I going to do while I wait? Ain't just gonna sit here twiddling my thumbs."

"Twiddling your…?" Avril cocked her head curiously, parsing the curious phrase aloud. Even without the common frame of social reference, she derived the meaning easily enough, shaking her head. "No, of course not. I wouldn't abide by allowing such talent sit idly by in this crisis. You may assist me with the refugees."

"Um, okay," Ranma shrugged, looking at the numerous groups of shell shocked masses. "Gotta warn ya though… I don't have any fancy tricks like the one you did for me. I can set bones, bind cuts… heck, even knock down a few poisons with the right herbs, but I don't got any cool instant healin' things like that."

"But…" Once again, the green eyes stared and the martial artist had to suppress a bout of fidgeting under their incredulous gaze. "But you're a Ki-dancer. How can you not know…?"

"Like I said," Ranma shook her head, weary of having to admit her ignorance of current events. "Don't know what a Ki-dancer is let alone what they do."

The incredulous stare persisted for another moment before disappearing into neutral acceptance. "Am I correct in saying that you can manipulate your life essence?"

"Sure, Ki's easy enough," Ranma shrugged with the fact of life. Two years of Amazons, Dragon princes, Luck God martial artist, ghosts, fiancées, Phoenix people, birds and rivals had made it one.

Avril nodded with the confirmation. It would have been easy to attribute the child's reply as boasting, but she could tell the difference. The girl knew Ki and it knew her. "And what can you do with your abilities?"

"Mainly martial arts stuff," The redhead continued nonchalantly. "Can enhance strength, healing, physical attacks… stuff like that."

The healer waited for the girl to elaborate. After it became obvious that there was little else forthcoming, she press for further information. "What about the healing arts? Aura manipulation? Ki transfusion?"

"Mmmm," Ranma mulled over the question. "Can do a bit with my aura, and can heal myself pretty quickly- not as fast as you did –got special martial arts techniques…"

"But… You…. How…" The woman began to stutter, only to silence herself abruptly as Ranma watched curiously. "The utter waste of talent… its nearly criminal!"

The teen began to blink rapidly as she processed the statement. She had been expecting something along the lines of 'amazing!' or 'incredible!'. Instead she had gotten 'utter waste' and 'criminal'

"Young one… " She reigned herself in with a deep breath, leading her charge back to the main group of survivors. "Such a gift expended merely upon the combat arts is a tragic waste. It would be like the Queen herself limiting her magical talent to parties and parlor tricks."

"Tragic waste…?" Ranma Saotome was at a complete loss for words. Half of her was offended. She was the best, a martial arts prodigy. Since she could walk. Her superiority wasn't a matter of pride as most thought, it was a foregone conclusion. The other half couldn't help but to note the tantalizing possibilities…

Fourteen years… Parlor tricks?

Avril watched uncertainty flicker in the girl's eyes and decided to explain lest she come to the wrong conclusion. "A Ki dancer is one that can manipulate the life forces of themselves and others with absolute precision. It's known that the masters can sustain life through the most dire of injury, transfuse Ki between individuals and even manipulate the very physiology of their patients at the cellular level."

"Whoa."

"And that is but the tip of the crystal," The Healer nodded. "And why I am slightly… unsettled at your complete lack formal training. Magic permeates all living things and is quite accessible to any with the desire to learn. An individual with even rudimentary control of their Ki isn't common. One with your level of control- with the ability to manipulate life itself -is so rare that once identified, these children are normally schooled immediately on Endria to utilize their abilities to their destined conclusion."

The pair walked back to the initial group of refugees in silence and it was obvious to Avril that the girl was in deep thought concerning her potential and place in the world. And right she should, Avril thought to herself with mental smile. The thought of a Ki dancer wasting that precious potential on the combat arts… Not that she was about to disparage her own profession, but even she was willing to admit that magical healing only went so far. Magic itself was broader and more powerful in scope, but for any application concerning raw life force, it was like using a durium hammer over a crystal scalpel. People could go into shock after being exposed to high levels of magical energy. A Ki dancer suffered no such limitations.

In a way, it made her jealous.

"Once this crisis has passed, I may be able to procure some holos on the subject," The black haired woman explained. Any little nudge in the right direction helped, in her opinion. A small smile crept across the teen's lips and Avril doubted her charge was even conscious of it. "In the meantime, you shall help me, young Starlight."

"How's that?" Ranma asked amiably, ignoring the misplaced title. It was a fair trade in her eyes anyway, one she had engaged in across many dojos growing up.

"Simply think happy thoughts and occasionally follow my direction."

"Happy thoughts." Ranma arched an eyebrow. Now the woman was a comedian.

"Ki dancer auras are highly organized," Avril continued in an instructional tone, unaware of her new assistant's skepticism. "It's common knowledge that they can affect the mood and feelings of those around them, especially useful in crisis and—" She turned around, noticing the lack of footsteps echoing behind her. She found Ranma staring after her. "I'm… taking it that you were unaware?"

Ranma shook her head silently and it was quite clear that she had just given the redhead something further to think on. "As I said, your own bearing has a high degree of influence on those around you and any marginal comfort you can provide in this darkened hour is by no means insignificant."

"I see…" Ranma returned hesitantly, kicking the new concept around mentally before adding, "…I think."

"My specialty is magic, unfortunately," Avril elaborated upon seeing the unspoken questions in the teen's blue eyes. "The details of the technique I must defer to—"

Soundless bright light flared through the warehouse windows, interrupting her and nearly blinding both healer and martial artist alike. Ranma had just enough time to mutter 'Ah shit' before gale force winds took a hold of the structure, blowing out every window and ripping sheets of crystal from the building itself. Ranma was already falling of her own accord on reactions based on too many life or death situations to count, pulling Avril down by the collar just as one of the air born crystal scythes cleaved the air above. Anybody not on the floor within two seconds of the howling blow was cut down or otherwise eviscerated by debris while the entire front wall of had blown in. The left wall was in the process of peeling away when the storm died off to a scalding, dusty breeze.

When the martial artist poked her head up from the protective shell of her arms, she found herself under an boiling red and orange sky. Half the warehouse roof had been dismantled and burnt away. Beside him, Avril shook off the dust and attempted to find her balance. "What… What was…?"

"Another bomb, if I had to guess," Ranma likewise stood up, little worse for the wear. She frowned, scanning the devastation for threats. "And if it was anything like last time, we can be expecting company real quick."

"But the front is at least four kilometers from here…" Avril shook the away the remaining daze, looking for survivors. "They can't have gotten a weapon of that magnitude so far in!"

"Thinkin' that says otherwise," Ranma motioned to an anemic mushroom cloud floating into the already torn sky.

"Shards…" the woman whispered, finding the horizon's newest landmark as well. She stared for another moment before turning back to the bodies strewn about the crumpled structure. "Regardless, we must tend to the survivors."

The healer located the nearest signs of life- moaning from beneath a twisted mass of rubble and began to dig, pulling chucks of rock aside. "Without heavy equipment, we may not—"

The shattered beam she had been digging around suddenly lifted, revealing five of the refugees that had been spared inside a void within the debris. Three inert bodies lay with them but were ignored as all eyes, survivors and healer alike turned upon what was holding the beam up- A diminutive redhead supporting nearly one ton of crystal composite overhead with a single hand. Avril found wits first and began to pull the battered survivors from the rubble, unsure of just how long the girl could support the weight… Even if it didn't look as if she wasn't even breaking a sweat.

"Out, out, out, out…" Avril ushered gently, helping to pull them from the pocket of life. The refugees scampered out and Ranma lowered the slab, sealing the dead back within. Avril ignored the questioning survivors in favor of deferential nod to the teen. "For one who knows so little about the art, you demonstrate considerable skill in it." The red head shrugged and Avril turned her attention forming a series of hand seals that caused her to glow slightly. The pure white faded and she explained. "I have placed a minor healing ward on all you, but have no time to answer questions as there are others in need. Please remain here until further help arrives."

The questions continued regardless, but the Healer's back was already turned, fully in triage mode. She picked out the next likely group of wreckage and Ranma followed in her footsteps, pulling away the larger masses of wreckage to find more survivors.

"Are you a Senshi?"

Ranma blinked at the little blonde haired girls question as she shoved a scorched mass of scaffolding from the new pile, freeing a man and allowing Avril access to his wounds. Ranma winced internally, noting that his leg was likely a write-off and returned her attention to the dirt matted child. Under normal circumstances, she'd snort something sarcastic at being mistaken for a miniskirt clad magical girl, but this particular day was far from normal and far be it for her to crush the hope of some kid who had probably seen more death in one day than most people would in a life time. Hell, I've seen more death in one day than most people would in their lifetime, she frowned mentally, but fixed a confident smirk on her face.

"Sure am, kiddo." The martial artist was reward by the girl's glittering hazel eyes until the next quest came.

"Which one?"

"Uh," Ranma stumbled, caught flat footed. "I'm the senshi of…"

"Sailor Starlight, dear," The Healer patted the child on the head, prompting wide eye stare and a nearly inaudible groan from Ranma. "Please watch this one, child…" She motioned to the man whose mangled leg was slowly knitting back together. Now it was Ranma's turn to stare as the guy she had written off as an amputee was literally having his leg regrown before her eyes. The girl nodded while Avril continued her instructions to her. "He will need you to keep him awake, lest he goes into shock… Can you do that?"

The girl nodded once more and Avril gave her another pat on the head, turning back to her work. "With training, it is something you can do, perhaps better, young one." She pulled Ranma's attention away from the healing leg with the statement. "In any case, our window of opportunity is dwindling if we are to save as many as possible. Search what's left of the north end. I trust your eye; if you find any within my capabilities to save call me over. Those too far gone must rely on the Almighty's intervention."

Ranma nodded stiffly with the commandment. Save who you can, and the rest… She ground her teeth down bitterly. Meiou's future is really startin' to suck.

"Anybody alive in there?!"

Ranma and Avril turned to the source of the unexpected query, finding a soldier stepping into the wreckage of their former shelter. He was shortly followed by another armor clad trooper and Avril waved them over. The soldier quickly weaved through the skeletal remains of the warehouse with a grim expression.

"Honored healer, we must evacuate you and any that are able immediately," He continued breathlessly, turning back over his shoulder to check on yet more troopers filtering into the area at a staunch pace. "The lines have been breached and it is only matter of time before this position is overrun."

"The nuke?" Ranma jabbed a thumb at the dissipating mushroom cloud, earning a nod from the soldier.

"Affirmative," he acknowledged, taking a look back at the spent weapon's mark on the sky warily. "Guardian Jupiter was heavily engaged by youma when three began to glow, erecting a field around her. A forth charged in and next thing we know a one kiloton organic nuke goes off in our faces."

"More than likely wards to bring down her protections," Avril surmised, based on the details. While she was no Senshi, she was relatively certain their armor could take more punishment than that without such an advantage. "How much time do we have?"

"Not much," The soldier shook his head. "The only reason they didn't roll over us outright was because their advance takes them directly through their own blast, but they're coming. Gather anybody who can move and fall back to One Senate. The Queen and her Senshi will make their stand there."

"Then we shall as well," She confirmed, turning to Ranma. "Gather those we have found and—"

"Won't work." Avril studied the teen's stony gaze as she looked out beyond the warehouse and the passing troops. Noticing the questioning looks from both solider and healer, Ranma elaborated. "We ain't going to be that fast enough with wounded and unless your meeting spot is right around the corner, those demons will run us down just like they did the people in the city."

A muffled explosion sounded in the distance, followed by the whine of lance fire. It was still a ways off judging by the echo, but it served as notice to all three that the forces aligned against them were on the move. The soldier shook his head solemnly. "While your apprentice is more than likely correct, we cannot stay. If we do we risk defeat in detail and we cannot afford to weaken the Queen's efforts in doing so."

"Then…"

"Gather the people up," Ranma replied, cracking her knuckles. "I'll see what I can do to buy ya some time."

"Girl, if the entire Queen's 83rd and a Senshi couldn't hold that line, what makes you think—"

"I come with references." A hard blue glow suddenly erupted from the girl, stopping his misgiving cold.

Confidence. Absolute confidence. Avril could feel it waft around her like a blanket, leaving her no doubt that this girl before her would hold the line for as long as it took. Of course she would, she thought to herself in a reproving tone. You don't catch the eye of a Senshi without something of note, and whatever she lacked as a traditional Ki dancer, the ability shone like a sun within her. In that moment, she came to a decision herself.

"Have your men gather the survivors and take them with you," She replied, shocking the trooper even further. While a Healer didn't have an official rank, they carried considerable clout and Avril used that clout now. She looked down at Ranma with a knowing smile. "We will hold the line here."

Whether it was the Ki dancer's aura affecting her decision or her own flawed judgment, she wasn't about to let a girl barely in the prime of her life face a horde of youma alone while she retreated to safety.

The soldier boggled for a moment before regaining his wits. "Honored healer, I beg you to reconsider. We will escort you to---"

"We will remain here."

"Both of you?" He looked from Healer to teen with a frown. Neither moved an inch. "Then I guess it can't be helped then." He turned to one of the passing groups of soldiers. "Sergeant Nax!"

One of the soldiers parted company with his group, running up to them. "Sir?"

"Five volunteers, one in full plate," He ordered, passing along his own initial surprise to the non-com who in turn did a double take of the glowing red head. He smiled grimly. "The Healer and her assistant are intent on buying the survivors enough time to rendezvous at One Senate."

"You told 'em how stupid that is, right?" The shorter Sergeant sighed, looking back across the terrain they had just retreated. The sounds of warfare were drawing closer. The Captain simply nodded and the trooper shrugged, turning back to his group. He paused, looking squarely at Ranma. "What's with the nightlight?"

"She's a Ki dancer, you wit," The officer snapped back while Ranma blinked. "Now get those volunteers before I feed you to the youma on our asses." The trooper winced, hurrying away while the officer turned back to the women. "My apologies for the coarse language, honored dames."

Avril simply arched an eyebrow and Ranma shrugged. It was less than a minute before the sergeant returned with ten volunteers. The officer simply rolled his eyes. "Nax, did momma drop you as a child? What part of 'six' don't you understand?"

"Tell that to these new math children, Cap." The mousy non-com snorted. "I say six, I get ten. Wish my paycheck was like that."

"Don't like youma taken down civvies, Sir." A large black man rumbled, made even larger by the exoskeleton of heavy weapons and sloping armor he was wrapped in.

"And I like the shitty odds," One of the soldiers toward the back quipped, earning a few chuckles. Even Ranma couldn't help but to smirk a bit. These were her kind of people. They may not have been martial artists, but they had the code and that made them fine company.

"All well and good, but we're not pulling some heroic Captain Nebula last stand shit here," The Captain smiled grimly, but shook his head. "Let there be no mistake, this is a token delaying action at best. Anybody standing here in ten minutes is going to get rolled by that horde behind us and the Queen needs everybody else back at One Senate yesterday. If you've got family, hit the road."

Only two people left the group and the officer let another sigh. "Michal, Anako, Norris, nice try. I'll make it an order if I have to." Two more walked away. A thin, pale man in combat armor remained. "You want a court martial, Anako?"

"Sure, why not," The soldier shrugged passively. "Better than the look my wife will give me when she finds out I let some kid be youma food."

"The Queen's army is filled with goddamn idiots today, Nax," The officer grumbled, to which the Sergeant smiled widely.

"Each an every goddamn one of us."

He stood silent for a moment, staring at the men he was more than likely about to sacrifice to unholy army beating down their door step. The officer nodded. "Sergeant, round up the survivors. Don't stop until you see the throne itself, got that?" For the first time since their introduction, Ranma watched the soldier only known as Sergeant Nax straighten up, losing his casual demeanor. He saluted and was away with his task, leaving the group. The officer slung his rifle up, flipping down his combat visor.

"Then let's be about it," he ordered, losing any trace of humor. "Cross fire there, there and there," He continued, pointing out strategic locations in the rubble. "Camber, your armor is long range fire support on my command," The black man nodded and sauntered off at an awkward gait as afforded buy the heavy power armor he wore. "Dame Healer, you're going to be a busy woman. Stay low and keep us topped off. You," He paused at Ranma, who regarded him with thinly veiled humor.

"I'll be right here."

"Really," The officer arched an eyebrow, then turned to Avril. "Ma'am, would you care to advise your apprentice on just how hazardous it would be to her health to stand in the middle of a youma advance?"

"I sincerely doubt she would listen," Avril retorted, then gained a thoughtful expression. "Tell me, Captain… have you ever seen a Ki dancer trained in the combat arts?"

The officer opened his mouth, then paused, looking at the red head. "Can't say that I have, actually."

"Then I suspect we'll both be in for a show."

"Uh-huh," The officer deadpanned, fixing Avril with a gaze, then the teen a full head shorter than himself before shaking his head and turning back to his squad. "Whatever. Keila, Anako, arc mines up and down their corridor of advance. Get creative. We'll want to bleed them as much as possible before they get here, got it?"

The remainder of his troops left with haste, leaving the officer to stare at the redhead, affecting a putout look. He unholstered a shiny side arm that looked like a pistol, but ended at a tapered point and proffered it to her. "Sure you don't want a lance or something? The little ones don't have much kick…"

The teen looked at the weapon skeptically, "Nah. Long as your guys know how to shoot, I'll be fine."

"Suit yourself. Alright, Here's how…" The Captain trailed off as a dull rumble began to fill the air and he glanced beyond their makeshift position and out into the growing cloud of dust beyond their immediate skyline. "They're early. POSITIONS, PEOPLE!"

All preparation halted as his meager squad took cover in the rubble of the hollowed out warehouse, setting up the crossfire. He eyed the redhead again, who stood in her seemingly nonchalant stance waiting. It was getting irritating, really. "You're just gonna stand there."

"Sure," Ranma shrugged, amused by his irritation. "Just keep 'em off me while I set the spiral up."

Spiral? Was she going to set up a seal or something? He stared at her, wondering if the girl had a concussion or shell shock. Either way, it didn't matter. "Do what you're going to do, but make it fast. We don't have the firepower to hold a new front." He turned back to Avril. "Dame Healer, on me please."

The squad of six settled into position amongst the rubble to stake out their lines of fire, leaving the redhead alone in the open. The bored look on her face was a mask born out of years of practice, the goal of which was to provoke an opponent into rash action. Inwardly, however, she was a coil of dread and excitement, having a new purpose beyond simply fighting for its own sake. There were innocent people behind her and it was her duty as a martial artist to ensure they got to safety…

…By whatever means necessary.

The first youma came out of the lingering cloud of dust, the martial artist noting that it looked similar to the others she had already slain; that is to say a gangly mass of horns, teeth and vaguely female in appearance. It was running flat out, not as fast as she could have, but still charging forth at a respectable speed when a beam of light suddenly sliced through open air, felling the beast with a headshot. Ranma watched it tumble to the ground lifelessly and another of its brethren raced forth. Behind it, two more. Soon ten. Fifteen. The number ceased to matter at some point as piecemeal charge plowed forward in spite of the beamed weaponry strategically picking them off. The advanced closed to three hundred meters, crossing another burnt out building when the three story structure suddenly exploded at the foundation, sending the already precarious structure collapsing down across the demon charge. A score of the creatures were instantly crushed, but more flowed around the spent trap. It wasn't an organized charge or even a loose formation, but they ran headlong, completely intent on the glowing meal of life force before them…

…And completely oblivious to the corridor of arc mines set up in their path. The first one detonated as the leading elements passed the two hundred meter mark, startling the martial artist with the bright blue flash and streamers of light that burst forth like glowing silly string that passed through youma like warm butter. Another score was cut down and more took their place, only to encounter more of the devices at the one hundred and fifty meter mark. Two more pulses flashed and once more, the disorganized charge was checked, buying precious seconds while lance fire continued to snuff out more of their ranks at random.

More youma joined the charge, trampling over the survivors and funneling into the skeletal remains of the empty warehouse. There was life force ahead. Lots of it. The fact that it was all concentrated into one person mattered little to the nearly brainless foot soldiers. It was there to be devoured and damn the fact that it was all being held within one of the best martial artists to have walked in any time period.

"Max fire, go!" the commander yelled across the unit's channel as the final arc mine lit off at the one hundred meter mark. He flipped the selector switch on his Damadra T80 Assault lance from single fire to full auto with a light click, and began dumping 105 decawatt bursts into the already disorganized advance while the rest of his troopers did the same. Lightning poured into the kill zone and for a precious moment, the mindless charge stalled out. Intellectually the Captain knew it couldn't last. There were more behind these and still more behind those. Eventually there would be just too damn many and they would simply roll over this position like a tide.

But until then… he smiled a grim smile and hosed the area with plasma from cover, mowing down anything that stood more than waist high. And through it all, that redhead simply stood there. Less than fifty meters from the chaos. Nonchalant like there wasn't a care in the world. No body armor, no weapon, no magic… She's either insane or fucking nuts, he decided, continuing his sweeps.

"Reinforcements coming up, Cap." The officer's ear piece crackled and he angled for a better view from his prone position, Avril peeking out from behind him. Sure enough another loose rank was charging into the kill zone, heedless of the slaughter before them. Deadly, but brainless, he surmised, mowing down another three with his lance. Perfect for establishing high casualty beachheads, but not much else.

"Dammit!" his earpiece squawked as two of the youma slipped through their shared field of fire to challenge the redhead directly. Not gonna make it not gonna make it not gonna make it, the officer's brain screamed as he pulled away from his current target and attempted to sight the youma closing to knife range on the redhead. He was just drawing the bead of his reticule down on the first beast when the girl sidestepped the lead demon and slashed at it with her hand. What looked like a clean miss blurred the air and the youma fell into two distinct parts, quickly followed by its brethren. "Sonofa—"

"Using her own chi as a wind—Oh!" The Healer over his shoulder remarked with no small amount of amazement as the girl extended that same hand and let loose a bolt of crystal blue light into another group of four that had made it past the screen of fire, reducing the them and the ground they stood upon component pieces.

"I thought you said she was a Ki dancer, not a mage!" The Damadra kicked into the captain's shoulder as he resumed firing, walking plasma across another group of interlopers. More continued to press their invisible line, slipping through for the redhead to kill in that annoying nonchalant manner of hers.

"Pure Ki!" Avril correct, transfixed as the girl danced around two of the demons while dispatching a third, fourth and fifth with her elemental wind blade technique. "There are no magic in those attacks whatsoever!"

"Would still rather have a mage on tap," He grunted, lighting off the weapon in another three second burst before keying the unit channel. "Camber! Burn 'em down!"

Thirty meters away, a walking tank trudged out from behind a pile of warehouse wreckage; bring its arms to bear on the still stalled youma ranks. On those arms, two large bore cannons unfolded, separating into three distinct segments that began to rotate at high speed.

"Consider the bitches burned."

Visible detail around the power armor washed away as the two weapons lit off, sending what amounted to thirty centimeter angry yellow spheres of plasma downrange at a rate of five per second. Even as the stream of yellow white death incinerated their intended targets, two larger pods on the armor's shoulders cracked open. Blast plates slid away, revealing the curvature of the no less than thirty warheads.

The initial onslaught of fire startled Ranma so much that she couldn't help but to step back and trace the devastation back to its source, the ebony soldier completely encased in massive thick plates and flashing heavy weapons. The shoulder mounts slid away to reveal their ordinance as well and Ranma instinctively knew with their deployment, it was nearly time to make her move. The thought had only just finished forming when all thirty missiles were ejected from the power armor, belching fire as they ripped away from their pods. Blue eyes tracked the projectiles as they flew overhead in a ballistic arc, their glowing streamers finding a new home in the back of the youma ranks where they detonated spectacularly in sequence. Fireballs reduced the newly arrived reinforcements to ash even as more of the demons continued heedlessly through the kill zone of plasma and fire.

Three more youma charged through the inferno and Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, cracked a cocky grin. As good a place to start as any…

The first demon ran in and the red head slid around to its left flank, avoiding the initial cleave of its talons completely while pushing an open palmed strike into its exposed ribcage. Bone snapped under the blow and the thing howled in pain. It whirled around to retaliate, but its tormentor-slash-meal was already gone, engaging the next youma in line. Its claws flashed out as well, but she was inside the attack, stopping the downward stroke and forcing its elbow joint out of the socket with a strategically placed strike.

The second howl of agony was immediately followed by a third, then a fourth as the girl continued to selectively engage newcomers to the fray, only to retreat and meet another. While by no means lethal, it insured that she had the demons undivided attention, and the number chasing her began grow. She was food and their food had hurt them. Said food would now be made to suffer, according to the demonic foot soldier's limited intellect. The antagonizing strikes continued and their fury grew, causing Ranma to grin nastily. She had a nice sized mob chasing her now, leaking all sorts of killing intent beyond simple, ravenous hunger.

Crack. Broken Jaw.

Snap. Collapsed sternum.

Slash. Her shoulder, medium depth.

Rake. Claws crossing her back.

Each hit was satisfying on its own merits, but nothing compared to the satisfaction of what she would do in another two revolutions; so she continued to weave the pattern ingrained into her by a three hundred year old mummy in spite of the pain. There was only so much dodging one could do in the middle of a demonic mob beginning to number in the hundreds, but she continued anyway, deep in the Soul of Ice.

Forty meters away, the captain of the squad was wondering just how a girl with no weapon, no armor and no affinity for magic had stayed alive as long as she had in the middle of the demonic throng, and damned if he and his men weren't doing their best to help her. He picked through the crowd and continued to eliminate targets in her path with his own lance fire while his team did the same, attempting to thin out the hordes around her. It wasn't enough and instead of even trying to extricate herself from the mass, she turned deeper into it, tagging youma along the way.

But not killing them, part of his brain noted as he dispatched another six youma with a prolonged burst of fire. It was almost as if she was trying to work them—

"Chargers in the red, Sir!" The advisement crackled through his earpiece, causing him to check his own weapon. Sure enough, the charge display was hovering just above the imminent depletion line. Dammit, he fumed mentally, breaking down the tactical situation. The girl was doing a damn fine job at occupying the youma, but once they got her, it'd be his unit on the menu. Could they slip away? Had they held this position long enough for the survivors to…

Avril stood up behind him carefully, breaking his train of thought. "Dame Healer, get down or—" He noticed the woman wasn't listening, her head bowed and robes fluttering with power. Her lips began to move and his recognition was instantaneous.

Healing prayer.

A few more meters, Ranma growled as an anonymous talon got lucky, slicing into her leg. Deep, she realized as warm life began to trickle down her calf. The stagger cost her precious mobility and another spiked claw sliced open her arm. Dammit! Can still make it, can still… Power flowed through her body like a warm blanket; foreign power that sought her out every wound she had incurred and fused them shut with a hiss of steam. It was a miracle that she desperately wanted to take time to analyze, but she had more pressing matters to contend with.

Evade.
Dodge.
Deflect.
Counter.

The damage continued to heal itself as she pressed through the last of the youma between her and the goal. She readied for the final two demons in front of her when both were cut down by an errant line of plasma from the right, and she took their place in the center of the massive spiral she had traced. The horde flowed in behind her and she smiled, bracing herself.

"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

Cold Ki flowed from her uppercut and into the heavens, catalyzing against the spiral of hot air all around her. The air gusted gently for a moment before the technique's harsh physics took over, snapping into place in the form of a violent gale that consumed the redhead. With a total of five martial arts combatants in tow, Ranma had been able to produce a tornado lasting exactly thirty five seconds and neutralizing every one of his opponents. This one was powered by the killing intent of no less than one hundred and sixty three magically spawned youma, and the resulting tempest didn't simply maim; it tore their ranks apart like they were rage dolls.

Ranma held the stance just long enough to nudge the tornado back down their path of advance before thrusting the point of her finger back down into the very earth she stood upon.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The ground shattered beneath her feet as the point of her finger cracked a minor ley line in the former foundation of the hollowed out warehouse, causing fragments of permacrete to float around her for moment before being greedily snatched up by the tornado itself. Her fingers dug into the newly formed crater, followed by her other hand as she pressed herself into the meager cover and held on for dear life. The vortex continued to chew up foundation and earth as the trailing edge washed over the martial artist and into the back ranks of youma, who were still attempting to reform their charge. The force of nature simply devoured the pathetic creatures and continued on along a drunken line back along their path of advance, impaling the survivors with stone fragments that had been accelerated in excess of four hundred kilometers per hour.

Forty meters away, the captain simply stared as the beast howled with righteous indignation at being summoned, then set loose to consume as many of the youma as possible. The winds died off to a stiff gust as the tornado wandered away to do its master's bidding, and he noted that he wasn't alone in his incredulity. The remaining soldiers of his small unit had also gathered around to watch the force of nature work, then to the crater of its birth where no redhead stood.

Avril took a hesitant step toward the pit that had spawned the elemental, unsure of what exactly had just happened or if the danger had even fully passed. Even the captain held his nearly depleted lance ready, just in case the gate to whatever plane the girl had summoned that thing from was still open, but instead found and empty—

Rubble shifted and a red crop of hair popped out from the debris, looking around, then up at the troops gathered around her. She shook her head, dislodging another couple of stones from her person and one of the soldiers offered her a hand up out of the self made crater. She accepted it gratefully and admired the destruction wrought around her as she stepped out to ground level.

"Child, what exactly was…?" Avril's word's trailed off, lacking the proper words to describe what she had just witnessed.

"Three thousand years of Chinese Amazon history," She smirked, sighting the tornado winding along the ruined skyline.

"I… it's…" The Healer fumbled, staring down at the mischievous looking teen, then collected her thoughts with a deep breath. "How Endria missed your potential completely baffles me."

"Maybe it's because—"

"Later," The officer cut in decisively, eyeing the martial artist warily. "How long that thing last?"

Ranma studied the distant tornado, analyzing the elements that had gone into its composition. "Those things were pumping out a lot of hate and there were damn near a hundred or so… long as it keeps findin' angry youma to chew on, I don't think it's gonna stop."

Her theory gave rise to awed mumbling through their meager ranks and even the officer himself couldn't help but to be impressed. "Then it's going to be out there for a long time."

"Gotta go, Captain." The armor's deep baritone reported as he raised his visor. "Command is reported breakthroughs all along the front and the queen's authorized nukes to slow their advance."

"Son of a…" He cursed as the implications sank into him in full. The Queen herself was giving the green light to glass her own world. If that didn't say things had turned to absolute carbon, nothing did. By the looks of the faces on his men, they knew it as well. "Drop your ordinance, people. Anything that will slow us down. We're hauling ass back to One Senate before her highness mistakes Anako's ugly mug for a youma and drops a nuke on our asses."

Ranma took a final look at the tornado she had spawned before following the soldiers who had already taken to their retreat, Avril in tow with the trooper in power armor.

Yeah, she decided, looking at the ruined sky and mangled city beyond. It was way past time to go.

"Status report." Setsuna Meiou- nearly fifteen thousand years uptime -queried as the gates continued to disgorge red holographic script, highlighting entire tracts of the timeline in large red boxes.

The Child AI avatar of Queen Serenity glanced up at the status indicators floating above then back to the Guardian of Pluto herself as she gathered the relevant data. "Temporal shielding holding, no after shocks detected. Final wave length: four hundred and twenty two chronoms."

The guardian paced, her eyes studying the wounded representation of the timeline intently. "What sort of damage are we looking at?"

"Minimal," the AI reported, enhancing her magnification of the timeline before her administrator. "Ninety three percent of my temporal waypoints are still intact; four percent are confirmed lost and another three percent are still unaccounted for."

No major damage, Setsuna interpreted the breakdown, studying the display hanging in open air before her. I knew this was a bad idea! Knew it! What the hell was I thinking?! The good news was that history had only taken a minor hit… With ninety three percent timeline integrity, overarching events had been more or less preserved… It was the details that she had to worry about. Hitler, for example, could have been born a she instead of a he. The industrial revolution could have been delayed five years. …Or mankind evolved out of the post Silver Millennium dark ages with a third eye on their forehead, she thought to herself cynically.

"Status on Saotome," She snapped, returning her attention back to the here and now.

"Attempting to resolve," The silver haired girl replied as blue lines of data scrolled across her iris. "Complete temporal buffer failure detected, cause indeterminate. Logs indicate Saotome was shunted to into local reality circa 8305 SM upon failure."

"Which would explain the damn time wave," Setsuna mumbled to herself. "And that he lived long enough to change something…" She shook her head, unable to believe her future self had sandbagged her so badly. "Can you get a lock?"

"Affirmative. Interference has dropped to acceptable levels," The gate avatar nodded. "Resolving Saotome, Ranma at time coordinates 2301aa00105x by 320018xa50e, Silver Millennium, circa 8305."

Setsuna's eyes narrowed as the timeline floating before her locked on to the specified area with a small green box amid the much larger pulsing red boxes overlapping one another.

"Bring. Him. Back." She ground out in no uncertain terms. "Now."

"Please move through the gate in an orderly fashion," A pleasant, androgynous voice completely at odds with the dire situation echoed across the evacuation site as Ranma Saotome watched a thick line of people shuffle past. They were moving toward the aforementioned gate, a gigantic ring that sat upright, pulsing with crystal blue power that fill the entire volume of its inner circumference. It was also the centerpiece of what looked to be a giant coliseum, the high domed structure that now served as the last remnant of humanity on the Moon. "Group Fifty Three B, stand by for transit… Proceed."

The mixed group of refugees and soldiers stepped through the liquid mass of energy, causing it to ripple before enveloping each person one by one as they stepped through, disappearing from sight. The artifact with its notched supports evenly distributed along the circumference reminded Ranma of another such gate. While this one didn't look like a giant pair of double doors, it certainly pulsed with the same identical power. She glared at this one all the same, as if were a living entity. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… She didn't know where they were being spirited away to, but damned if she was going along for the ride again.

"Number Sixty One B," Avril stepped out of the crowed from behind Ranma, distracting the martial artist from her grousing.

"What?"

"I've registered us for evacuation," The Healer handed the confused redhead a maroon ticket stamped "61B" in thick, black lettering. "We have an estimated twenty minute minute—"

A flash lit up the sky temporarily and the din of noise and confusion went silent as everybody in the immediate vicinity turned to watch a new, angry mushroom cloud claw its way into the already muddy red sky. Another flash and the phenomenon soon had company.

"Our Queen's forces," A hoarse voice belonging to a soldier called out in an effort to preempt speculation and panic. "Please continue moving to the gate!"

"Please move through the gate in an orderly fashion," the computerized voice intoned with a vaguely feminine inflection, as if to drive the soldier's point home. "Group Fifty Four A stand by for transit…"

"Where the hell is that thing takin' people anyway?" Ranma eyed the glowing ring skeptically as it swallowed another group of twenty one at a time.

"Nobody knows for certain," Avril shook her head, watching the people disappear as well before looking down upon her charge. "Word has it with power pretty much out all over the city, the Queen herself is fueling the gate with her own reserves."

"The Queen?" Ranma wondered, suddenly connecting several mental dots. "She'd know where Meiou-san is, wouldn't she?"

"No, wait! Not necessarily," Avril's eyes widened as she realized her error, watching the girl turn on a heel and stalk the crowd. "Child you can't do this!"

The woman's protests were largely ignored as Ranma ducked through the growing crowd of refugees to home in on the largest source of power in the area. Anybody who could power that ring back there would stand out like a sore thumb, according to the martial artists logic and she homed in upon the biggest source she could find, leading out of the crowd and directly into a ring of armed soldiers in full plate; Beyond them, a regal woman in white with silver hair, blue eyes and absolutely glowing with power. The martial artist tried to gain a better view around the monolithic armor, realizing that while the woman's eyes were open, they weren't actually seeing. Meditative trance? Probably need it to focus enough power to shoot people half way around the solar system or somethin'…

Seconds later, Avril caught up to her charge with a slight pant. "Child, this is an ill advised course of action… Do not distract the woman attempting to save our very lives."

Something in the woman's tone called off Ranma's impetuous nature, and she disregarded her initial plan to hop over the guards and meet the woman directly. The very last thing she needed was to soil her honor by screwing up everybody's way out of this hell hole.

"Alright, alright," Ranma backed off, backing out of the guard's personal space. If they had even noticed her, they didn't show it and remained completely immobile walls of crystal and steel. "But that thing back there ain't my way home and damned if me and Meiou-san aren't gonna have words before—"

"And what, exactly would you tell Guardian Pluto, hmmm?"

"I'd tell her just how badly she—" Ranma's mouth fired off automatically as she turned to the new speaker, then received the sensory input in full. Red Eyes, green hair, black and white fuku. The soft contralto of her speech. Ranma blinked. "YOU!"

"Me?" The woman blinked back, completely caught off guard by the accusation and its complete lack of detail.

"This is all your fault!" the redhead accused, leaving the guardian to wonder just what she had done to earn the girl's ire. "You're the reason I'm here to mmmMMMF!"

Avril's hand slapped over the Saotome's mouth, pulling her back with no small amount of trouble as the girl attempted to free herself. The Healer affected a slight bow; as much she could afford with the struggling girl in hand.

"I do apologize, Guardian Pluto," Avril began hastily, desperately attempting to keep Ranma silent. "She has an odd fixation with you and so sorry to have—"

"This crazy woman punted me into this future!" Ranma gained sufficient leverage and pried the hand from her mouth. "And you and me are gonna have a little talk about it!"

The Senshi of Pluto's eyes widened suddenly, then narrowed on the redhead. "And what do you know the future, child?"

"I know you'd better open back up those damn time gates of yours and send me back," Ranma leaned forward with the challenge, completely free of Avril's grip now.

Something in her words hit home, and the Senshi inhaled sharply. She stared at the fierce redhead for a moment before coming to a decision. "You. Come with me. Both of you."

"Guardian please do not judge this impetuous youth too harshly," Avril trailed behind the two, Pluto taking the lead and Ranma walking confidently behind as the ring of guards parted to allow them admittance to the Queen's inner sanctum. "I'm sure we can—"

"The Time Gates are a closely guarded secret of the crown, child," The guardian began as they closed on the entranced queen. "Doubly so in these dark times."

"Of course they are, Guardian," The black haired healer nodded hastily. "We shall—" Avril stalled, cocking her head. "You mean the young Saotome is actually…?"

"…Either temporally displaced as she claims or an enemy agent," The red eyed Guardian remarked as they continued. Ranma smirked regardless. "In either case we shall deal with her shortly, then determine your complicity in the matter."

Avril suddenly grew very silent as she realized just how deep her association with the girl had drawn her.

The trio walked past a number of uniformed officials and advisors, all of which gave the Guardian of Pluto a deferential bow as she continued on to the Queen and another fuku-clad blonde next to her. Their conversation paused for a moment, and recognition lit up in the blonde's eyes.

"You still here, Red?"

Pluto arched an eyebrow, looking from the redhead to her counterpart, the Guardian of Venus. "You know her?"

"Yeah, Guardian Mercury and I found her in the city core taking on her very own division of Youma." Her smile diminished slightly with the mention of her friend's name. "That is before Ami…"

Ranma would have been more than happy to take credit and the recognition if not for the heavy emphasis on her comrade's name and the somber tone. Venus took a deep breath, clearing a blonde bang from her face. "Anyway, I'm betting that was your summon down on the front line?"

"Summon?" Ranma cocked her head, clearly not comprehending her reference.

"The wind elemental, child." Avril placed her hand on Ranma's shoulder, clarifying the guardian's words.

"Wind elemental?" Pluto stared at the teen, intently scrutinizing the girl a full head shorter than herself. There was no magical potential in her to speak of, so...

"Thought so," Venus quipped, nodding. "Hard to miss that much life force being thrown around. Sent the bitches into all sorts of disarray."

"And bought us these precious minutes," The silver haired queen turned her attention upon her for the first time, smiling gently. Still, it was clear to Ranma that the woman was still heavily focused on her near trans-like state. "Were their time to properly commend you, I would but there are more pressing matters at hand…"

"She knows about the time gates, Your Highness," Pluto interjected, but in a considerably less confrontational tone, recognizing the fact that this stranger before her had built up at least some good will amongst her peers.

"Indeed," The entranced woman returned with the slightest edge of surprise in her otherwise lulling tone. "Perhaps explanations are in order, then?"

"Should be asking Pluto here," Ranma jabbed a thumb back at the green haired Senshi with a look of annoyance. "She's the one who sent me into this busted future."

"Future? Me?" Setsuna blinked, then frowned deeply. "Highly unlikely."

"Yeah, and me standin' here says otherwise," The martial artist retorted. "Hell, you should remember it unless you went all senile."

"Senile?" Her red eyes squinted on the martial artists, promising retaliation for the trespass. "Of all the people I would send into the future, you would not be one of them."

"And I really don't give a damn," Ranma folded her arms across her chest imperviously. "You sent me here, so fix it already."

"Ehh," Avril interjected tentatively. "Forgive the young Starlight, Your Majesty, Guardian Pluto. She is quite impetuous."

"Starlight?" Venus arched an eyebrow, studying Ranma intently as well.

"A Starlight now…" Queen Serenity tilted her head with interest, but continued none the less. "Be that as it may, perhaps the details of your… displacement are in order since only a select few even know of the Gate's existence, let alone their location."

"Between Pluto and that other planet, right," Ranma shook her head, failing to notice Guardian Pluto's eyes bug out with the easy admission of the Time Gate's ultra secret location. "Look, Sets-chan didn't give me the details, but if I had to guess, I'm at least fifty years in the future because we sure as hell didn't have flying cars on the moon last I checked."

Pluto's eye twitched with the nickname but she finally had the girl. "Impossible."

"You keep sayin' that, but here I am." Ranma rolled her eyes. "I know about your gates and I know where they are. Give it up alr—"

"Impossible," Pluto cut in sternly, "Because the gates have only been operational for two years now. There's no way I could have sent you anywhere fifty years ago because there was nothing to send you forward with."

"But that's…" Ranma opened her mouth, then let it snap shut as her brain tried to recall the pertinent information given to her by the Setsuna she knew. She had said the past, but the cars and moon… "That can't be… She sent me…?"

"Sent you where, child?"

"She said the past," Ranma wallowed in confusion; staring at the silver haired queen, then back up at Setsuna. "I thought with all the weird technology… but… that just doesn't make sense!"

"From my standpoint, it would," Pluto considered the girl thoughtfully. It certainly didn't look like she lying and her emotions read like an open book anyway. "What better way to avert catastrophe then to send a messenger back with a warning?"

"Could have used that a few hours ago," Venus frowned, unsure of what to make of the situation at this point. She knew she was smart, but temporal mechanics made her brain hurt.

"But that's the point!" Ranma balked, frustration writ large on her face. "You didn't tell me anything! You just dropped my ass into this place without a damn clue!"

"Again, highly unlikely," The green haired guardian shook her head, completely sure of herself now. "There would be little point sending anyone back to avert a catastrophe of this magnitude without the information necessary to avert it."

"You just ain't getting it!" Ranma's frustration rose to new heights. After spending the entire day and a half fighting off youma and watching people getting killed, she figured she had the right. "You didn't tell me anything! Nothing! All you said was…" As quickly as her anger had flared it was suddenly extinguished as her Setsuna's last words were suddenly recalled. "Oh shit… you said…"

"Said what, child?"

Ranma had paled noticeably. She wasn't sure of the exact portent of those words, but she was damn sure they couldn't have been good in any way shape or form. "You said 'look but not touch…'"

Hers wasn't the only feeling of trepidation. Even as the redhead had uttered the words, Setsuna was analyzing them and their potential implication. There was too much information now to doubt the stranger was telling the truth and if her future self had issued such a commandment, then the only logical conclusion to be derived from that statement was that events were to play out however they were to play out.

"Guardian Venus," She turned to her counterpart, gaining the blonde's attention, "If I could have a word alone with her Highness?"

Venus caught the unmistakable flicker of the guardian's eyes over to the redhead and healer, comprehending her intent instantly. "If you could follow me over here for one moment please…"

Pluto waited until the trio was safely out of earshot in spite of Ranma's protests before turning back to the Queen. She was already looking upon her with a knowing countenance.

"What must be done, Setsuna-chan?"

Leave it to her Serenity-chan to drive straight to the heart of the matter… "Unfortunately, nothing for now. For whatever reason, my future self has given her a hands-off commandment, implying no changes should be made to the events unfolding in the here and now."

"Hmmm…" Queen Serenity's expression turned thoughtful. "Be that as it may, I find it difficult to turn away any support in our hour of greatest need. She is obviously quite skilled, and any favor we can curry with the Novis Lumina…"

"Something I sympathized with greatly, your Highness," Pluto agreed, following her gaze to the redhead. "Though her presence tells us one thing; The future is intact and the Silver Millennium has survived in some capacity."

"And there is still the fact that you sent her back without a message of any sort, though her very presence has made this evacuation possible," Queen Serenity gazed upon her guardian for a moment, then the redhead talking in a somewhat more conversational form than before with Venus. "The logic is disconcerting at best."

"My thoughts exactly," Pluto nodded, having already perceived the discontinuity in the girl's very presence. Exactly why would her future self send somebody back but give them a hands-off commandment? "It is very possible she has already served her purpose simply by being here…"

"Explain."

"We already know that one must be very careful with causality as to not initiate a catastrophic series of events," The guardian explained, watching Venus occupy Healer and martial artist alike. "The manipulation of the timeline must be certain and precise if a given outcome is to be achieved. Give an agent too much information and they could very well overcorrect or stray from the original intent…"

"So you're theorizing that we purposely provided her with a lack of information to simply achieve this outcome?" The queen frowned, torn between the results they had apparently achieved and the manipulation required doing so.

"It is my best guess at this point," The Guardian nodded. "I've seen the combat logs. Without that girl's elemental attack, the entire front would have crumbled inside minutes once Beryl's forces took full advantage of the breech. I'm not fond of that level of coincidence, your Highness."

"Nor am I," The woman before her agreed. "Your recommendation, then?"

"Isolate her," Setsuna advised firmly. "She has obviously played out her role and will be recalled in the near future. If not, we shall send her back ourselves once this threat has passed."

"With her own future irrevocably changed," The Queen's own unease manifesting in the conclusion. "It does not please me to manipulate our own with such duplicity, but I see no choice at present." She paused, a moment, reviewing the action she was about to take, then nodded. "So be it. Place a guard on the Child; one of my own. Advise her that she is to take no further action in this timeframe, though by my word the Starlight is to be afforded our respect until her return. I will not allow our gratitude for her deeds to be found lacking."

"Understood, Your highness," Pluto returned with a respectful bow, turning on a heel and motioning a guard in ordinate full crystal plate to follow her back to the redhead. The guard looming large behind her didn't go unnoticed either.

"Well?"

"The crown would like to extend our fullest gratitude for your assistance," Setsuna began, ignoring the irritating redhead's demeanor. "Once hostilities have past we will be more than happy to help you return to your original timeframe."

Ranma's eyes widened, but then narrowed back on the woman. After all, there was a guard in escort for a reason; this one in all kinds of fancy armor. "I hear a 'but' coming."

"Unfortunately, you represent an unknown quantity in this timeframe," The Guardian nodded. "We must ask you to abstain from further activities until we can arrange your transport."

Ranma opened her mouth, closed it, then open it again, having found the right words to express her irritation. "You gotta be shitting me."

The aggravation conveyed in the crude remark left Setsuna speechless for a moment, yet she held her tongue per the Queen's instructions. "Be that as it may, the Queen has dispatched one of her own to ensure your safety and compliance."

"You can't seriously expect me to just sit here," Ranma held the women with a lidded glare. "You know what happened the last time I was told that?

"I do," Guardian Venus mumbled, causing Pluto to arch an eyebrow.

"Indeed." She returned blandly, but let the comment pass. "In any case, Guardian Venus and I are required elsewhere. Please remain here until instructed otherwise. Good day."

The Green haired Senshi turned and walked off, leaving Ranma, Avril and Venus. The blonde shrugged in turn, following her cohort back to duty. Ranma scowled.

"Well this sucks," She remarked, watching the pair leave for a moment. They disappeared into the crowd and the martial artist sighed, then turned to her massive escort. "Don't suppose ya got any hot water?" Silence met her query. "That's kinda what I thought."

"So…" Avril began tentatively, studying the girl she had come to know over the last day through life and death. "You truly are not from… here?"

"Hmmf," Ranma snorted in a most unlady like way. "Not even close. Guess it would have been hard to swallow if somebody told me that too."

"Quite," The Healer shook her head, still straddling the line between belief and disbelief. "Though I find it difficult to believe that you would have been sent here without a clear directive of some sort…"

"Tell me about it," The redhead huffed, finding a nearby bench. She looked back up at the ever present monolithic suit of crystal armor standing by with a roll of the eyes. "I don't care which Pluto does it, but I'd better be getting' answers soon."

"Which Pluto…" The slightest smile cracked Avril's serious demeanor. "Such novelty in that statement."

"I try not to think about it too much," Ranma grimaced, pulling out the silver rectangle she had inherited before the evacuation, eyeing it hungrily. Technically speaking, this Pluto wasn't the one her beef was with… but she was still a Pluto and that had to count for something.

"If we should survive this insanity, I insist you tell me…" A group of advisors suddenly rushed past and over to the queen, joined by the green haired Senshi in short order. "That bodes not well."

"Tell me about it," Ranma nodded, hoping back up with the intent to eavesdrop. She paused, looking back up at her armored escort. "You can come too, Shorty."

Five steps from her escort, Ranma froze. The ground was vibrating. It wasn't the sudden shock of a bomb, but a consistent vibration that was steadily increasing in intensity. She didn't know what it was, but with the flurry of advisors before the woman known as Queen Serenity, there was only one conclusion to come to.

"Aw, shit."

As if the words themselves were magic, the sound of stone being ripped from the earth suddenly filled the air as massive ten meter wide pits opened up below survivors and soldiers alike. Five of the pits appeared instantaneously and those above them disappeared into the black momentarily, only to reappear in the jaws of what the martial artist could only term as 'snakes'. Their heads shot up from the pits on elongated serpentine bodies, gnashing at the victims that had literally fallen into their maw. The soldiers in plate had come to the same conclusion that Ranma had- Anybody in the mass of fangs were already dead and commenced to firing. Immolating plasma rained in from all sides and Ranma watched as the snake things died by fire. Their scales ablated some of the rounds, but the torrent would not be denied and the writhing beasts collapsed to the earth one by one.

And that's when the second set of pits opened up.

This time the target was specifically the soldiers, and the serpents rose from the ground amid panicked plasma fire. Even those in full plate weren't spares as teeth closed around them and cracked the armor like brittle nut. The Queen's own armor was actively engaging the invaders now, torching them with heavy lances and missile fire. The more intelligent snake took their bites and dove back into the ground before they took too much damage, while the slower ones died as they had in the first wave. The last visible snake collapsed in a smoldering heap only to signal a third wave. This one wasn't composed of snakes, however and youma exploded from the gaps; flooding out of the hole like a tide of angry ants.

Sailor Venus was had already deployed her crystal claymore, hacking down youma with inhuman grace as a Dead Scream tore away from Pluto, creating a buffer zone between the Queen and the youma offensive. The Queens own guard regrouped, laying down thick suppressive fire for the pair. Setsuna's eyes flicked to a cut off group of the soldiers desperately trying to fight off their own attackers and she flexed her power.

"Garnet Shield!" Plasma and claws slammed home against the newly erected energy barrier, shielding the soldiers from the brunt of the attack. Then her eyes widened. "No…"

Earth crumbled once again and two of the massive serpents breached the surface once more. Venus rolled away and brought the massive claymore around, cleaving one of the creatures even as it sought her out. Setsuna Meiou, Guardian of Pluto wasn't nearly as fortunate. She had been caught flat footed with the bulk of her power already extended to safeguard that wayward platoon when the snake found her. Jaws opened, but instead of plunging down into her, sword tipped tongues shot out from its massive jaws at lightning speeds. The guardian dug into compressed time and the sword tongues slowed, but the effort was too little, too late.

Her initial dodge left evaded half of the fifteen tongues seeking to impale her and the Chrono Staff deflected another three in a shower of sparks. Four met flesh, skewering the green haired woman in the shoulder, chest, abdomen and leg simultaneously. Excruciating pain lanced through the woman… until the remaining eleven blade-tongues corrected their initial lunge and perforated nearly every vital organ of her body.

"SETSUNA!"

Something chopped the tongues free of their host and the Guardian of Time fell backward, blood spraying from her mouth. She retained just enough awareness to look down at the instruments of her demise… fifteen organic metal blades grafted to a multi tongue organ, indecipherable runes running up and down each molecular sharp edge.

"But…" She coughed up blood and still more seeped from the penetration wounds. Her blurred vision caught the stunned redhead easily enough from fifteen meters away. "Can't die… sent her… back?" A blonde mane swooped across her vision and Pluto fell over..

Fury. Impotence. Revenge. The Queen knew all these emotions as the woman she had named Guardian of Time fell over in a pool of her own blood, yet she was unable to do anything. Like Setsuna beyond, her own power was over extended. She was not only keeping the portal to salvation open, but preventing their nemesis from simply wiping them off the face of their own world with an ill placed nuclear device. She couldn't even retaliate until either the gate or the need to keep the shield up passed.

Even beyond that, the still logical portion of her brain knew they had miscalculated. Seriously miscalculated. Setsuna-chan was suppose to have sent the girl for her mission in the future, but to do that, she couldn't die on the field of battle like she was right this very moment! Events had taken a wicked turn and she needed to put them back on track. But how? The remainder of her troops were fully engaged. She had a single guardian left in play. She—The queens blue eye snapped back to the red headed girl at the center of it all. Her. She was the fulcrum.

"Child!" She yelled, attempting to break the girl's trance. "Starlight!" she barely smiled as the girl's eyes snapped away from Pluto and onto her person. That got her attention.

"Starlight!" The name Ranma had inadvertently come to associate with her own person effectively penetrated the shock of watching her ticket home impaled by the snake thing's tongues, tearing her attention from the dying Pluto and on to the Queen herself. "I hereby name you a Guardian of the Realm! Eliminate this threat by any means necessary!"

It took a moment for her words to set in and even after she had analyzed them, she still didn't know the significance behind being 'a Guardian of the Realm'. Ranma did, however, know full well what the latter part of her statement meant and loosed a cold, malicious smile.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about," Ranma cracked her knuckles and began to advance toward the embattled Sailor Venus, the fallen Pluto at her feet. "Let's go Avril-chan." She glanced back at her personal escort. "You too, Tin-man. If it moves, kill it."

"Affirmative, Guardian." The armored helmet nodded with a low, electronic baritone. Ranma didn't even notice the title as the armored warrior's weapons unfolded from their protective sheaths, readying for action. The martial artist nodded and ignited her own battle aura, signaling the renewal of hostilities.

Sailor Venus had just finished impaling her twenty second consecutive youma when a blue two meter wide ball of plasma flashed by her and slammed into another three encroaching on her flank, turning their ground zero into violent storm of fused stone and violent pressures. The Blonde quickly kicked her victim off the blade and reversed its vector to flow beneath her left shoulder and into the jaws of another demon attempting to engage her from behind. Resistance was next to nonexistent and she twirled around with a flick, cleaving away half the beast's skull effortlessly.

Another blue flash annihilated the next group she had chosen for targets and golden plasma streamed around her, hosing down every youma in melee attack range and forcing the rest to withdraw from her immediate area or become cinders. Even as she was gratefully marveling at the breathing room, a diminutive redhead in ragged dress clothing dropped in next to her.

"How's it going, Blondie?" She smirked, scanning for her own targets while her own armored escort continued to lay down suppressive fire.

"Pretty shitty, Red," The Senshi of Venus cursed, picking out her her own victims. "You?"

"Been better," Ranma replied, slicing at the air with a hand and cutting down one of the larger youma that had managed to stay ahead of the armor's rain of plasma. Avril knelt down to the impaled Senshi at the center of their newly established protective ring, examining Pluto.

"It's a miracle she's still alive. Swords come first," the Healer spoke in a commanding voice, clasping her hands together. "If you can hear me Guardian, prepare yourself. The blades are stunting your regeneration. So long as one of the spelled blades remain within you, your death is certain."

The black haired woman began muttering even as the din of battle consumed her words, culminating in the harsh order, "RELEASE!"

All of the organic blades suddenly pulled away from her chest simultaneously, floating aside before clattering to the earth. Blood continued to flow from the wounds, now at an accelerated rate. "Still not enough!" She put a hand to the woman's head and began chanting, funneling healing power into the Senshi. Both glowed golden for a moments and the wounds began to fuse, hissing with steam. "Almost have them…"

...Then they reopened

"Imp… Impossible!" Avril stared in horror as the woman writhed in renewed agony, blood burbling from her mouth in a silent scream. "Saotome-san, I need your assistance now!"

Ranma looked to Venus who in turn nodded. She stepped back and found Avril kneeling beside the blood soaked Pluto. "Whatcha need, Doc?"

"I need you to stabilize her life force while I attempt to unravel the curse those blades inflicted upon her wounds," The Healer stated, attempting to read the entanglement of magic around each puncture.

"And just how the hell do I do that?!" The martial artist stared at the woman wide eyed, then the Senshi on death's door. No amount of suturing or gauze was going to bring her back from that sort of trauma.

"I can only give you general theory," Avril shook head, focused almost entirely on a specific wound oozing blood. "Ki dancers are known to synchronize their auras with others and manipulate the shared life force. If you can keep her stable until I neutralize the curse…"

"Sonava…" Ranma mumbled, but fell to her knees beside the woman, closing her eyes. Synchronize aura's my ass, Ranma groused, but mentally committed to unknown of the task at hand. Learning new techniques she didn't mind. Learning new techniques when his or somebody else's ass was on the line positively sucked. The martial artist reviewed her task and the theory surrounding it, comparing it to the abilities at her disposal with freighting speed. I have an aura, she has an aura. I can sense it just like everybody else's so no problems there… Barely half a second had past and Ranma had already reviewed and discarded a number of approaches to the challenged that had been posed to her, coming down to her best guess. She ramped power to her aura and wrapping it around Setsuna's. Still ain't workin'… She realized, checking her progress. Even that was a tall order when one didn't know the exact result that was to be achieved. Synchronize… Synchronize … means they gotta me the same… Ranma reworked the theory and analyzed the Senshi's aura further as it began to dim. Shit shit shit… Smooth mine out a bit… Eeeeasy… Okay, gotta get the intensity down… Aura's too cool to fuse… Warm it up just a hair…

Now she could feel it—Once two aura with definitive boundaries began to blur. Triumph began to fill Ranma when Pluto's aura suddenly lost strength and began to evaporate. "No, no, no, no… Avril! Loosin' her!"

The martial artist's aura lashed out on reflex in a desperate attempt to graft itself to the Guardian's own, but the field continued to lose cohesion until all that Ranma could feel was incoherent energy fading from the Senshi. Ranma's eyes popped open just in time to watch the guardian spasm one last time before falling limp. Ranma stared for a full five seconds until Avril placed her hands of the Guardian's eyes, closing them softly.

"DAMN IT!" The Healer's eyes widened as the redhead next to her pushed a fist into the ground, creating a solid two meter indenture in it. Ranma gave the dead Senshi one last look before returning to her full height. Venus paused from her youma slaying, sparing Pluto a sad glance.

"And then there were two."

"Three," Ranma corrected with a growl, reorganizing her Ki for offensive usage. Youma continued to circle their position and she mentally began to prioritize targets. "We need a plan or we're all gonna be seeing that sooner or later."

"We need to retake the offensive," The blonde Senshi nodded. "But with the Queen tied up on the gate and civilians still on this side, we just can't go all out and dust the area."

"Attrition warfare plays to Beryl's strength here," Avril commented from her crouch, staying low as to avoid any unnecessary action. "Withdraw would be the most advisable course of action."

A lanky youma braved the power armor's fire, skittering around the streams of plasma to close the distance. Its efforts were reward by Sailor Venus deploying an energy chain-whip, bisecting it messily before it even made it to melee.

"There's nowhere to withdraw to!" She huffed and more of the demons began to draw closer.

"Crystal's running low, Guardians…" The trooper within the sloped armor advised, but continued to pump out lethal streams of plasma regardless.

"And what the hell is that?"

Venus followed Ranma's gaze to a new youma, this one distinctly female. She was nearly four meters tall with the gold crown taken into account, wore dead gray skin and spiked plate armor molded to her body. Each of her four arms held some form of sharp sword like weapon. The trooper didn't wait for positive identification, instead adhering to Ranma's original orders to the letter and splashing it with a stream of plasma. The energy attack rebounded off a thick shadowy barrier and the demon continued to advance.

"Seihan-chan says it's a Shivarra," Venus reported bringing the sword to bear on the new target while Ranma turned back to their right flank to immolate some of the lesser youma with a Moko Takabisha. "Closest analogy would be a General of youma forces."

"I hate Sub-bosses," Ranma frowned, keeping an eye on the newcomer and the squad she was directing; then gained a thoughtful look. "Almost looks like somebody I know…bigger, but…"

"Either way, we don't want her and those damn blades anywhere near us," Venus quipped, lashing the energy whip impatiently.

Ranma watched as the greater demon closed, her eyes flicking from it to the Chrono Staff Setsuna once wielded. "That thing still work?"

"Keyed to her life force, like my own blade," Venus hefted her own blade. "Unless she specifically allowed somebody to use it, it's likely to be nothing more than a fancy durium bo."

"That'll do," Ranma's hand snatched out to grab the staff, giving it a reflexive twirl. It was heavy and ill balanced with a center of gravity leaning well toward the heart-jeweled tip, but it would serve the purpose she had in mind… and make a fitting symbol in the process. "Think you can keep it occupied?"

"Why does it have to be me?!" Sailor Venus balked in an exaggerated tone, causing Ranma to chuckle.

"You're the one with the fancy sword and magical armor, remember?"

"There is that," She shrugged, twirling the claymore around through a graceful arc. The blonde turned back to Avril and the trooper in power armor. "Get her back to the gate."

"If you think I shall simply—" The Healer protested only to be cut off by the suddenly serious Guardian.

"It's only going to get uglier from here, honored Healer," Venus shook her head. "The last of the survivors are going through now, and once our Queen closes that gate, it's closed. We didn't have time to set up any sort of tech base there, so they'll need all the help they can get, yours especially."

"Where is 'there' anyway!?"

"Earth," Sailor Venus cracked a humorless smile at the sudden horror blooming on Avril's face. Even Ranma couldn't help but to feel concern after what she had heard happened to her own world. "A special site ninety degrees out of phase from the local reality. With Beryl scattering her forces throughout the cosmos on this crusade, the safest place to hide is directly under her nose."

"And if we can't?"

She chuckled. "Then there isn't anywhere in known space will be safe from her ambition, and dropping you in the last place she'd look would only delay the inevitable. Now go. Guardian Red and I have some clean up to do."

"Blondie's right," Ranma smirked, arraying herself next to Venus in order to cover Avril and the trooper's withdrawal to the gate. The martial artist twirled the staff through its own arc before burying the head into the earth as if to mark an invisible line the enemy would not cross. "Our job is to keep them from getting to those people back there. Yours is to keep em alive while we do it, kay?"

Avril looked as if she was about to protest but settle on a threat instead. "Then you had better come out of this alive. I'll not have that talent of yours atrophy by wallowing in the combat arts."

"As if," Ranma retorted easily, earning a solemn nod from the Healer as she and her escort turned back to rejoin the few refugees still on their side of the gate. The redhead's cocky smile slipped ever so slightly and turned back to Sailor Venus. "Alright, ready for this?"

"Oh yeah," She nodded, raising the crystal claymore up with one hand and sighting its point at the Shivarra lumbering toward them. It saw the challenge and brought its own four massive blades to the ready with a sneer, eyes aglow with unholy energy. "Now sound good?"

"Good as time as any," The redhead quipped, adopting a slouching crouch. Sailor Venus was only mildly surprised as the girl literally disappeared from sight.

"Figures," She mumbled before hefting her sword and brought it around with her charge into the Shivarra's forward ranks. Six of the lesser demons fell before they even had time to retaliate, falling to the glimmering silver arc of the Guardian's claymore and breaching the greaters' defensive line completely. Four curved scimitars fell down upon Venus.

SHreeeeiiik!

Sparked blistered through open air as the Senshi fended off the quadruple threat and the Shivarra took up the battle in earnest, turning into a dervish of exotic steel and power; her blades attempting to halve and quarter the blonde. Each strike met the Guardian's own blurring edge, deflecting and countering with the skill and grace born through decades of practice. Three more impacts resounded off the magical claymore and the forth came in- way off the optimal angle -Venus noted with a feral smile. She took the blow, slid left and wove her own edge around the blade, forcing the cursed scimitar from the Shivarra's grip. The single blade hit the ground, but the Guardian's victory was cut short as the other three were back to slicing the air around her.

Vibration continued to ripple down the crystalline edge as Sailor Venus parried blow after blow, attempting her own offensive through the steel onslaught when the air ten meters above the demon wavered. She nearly missed her next parry as a redhead fell away from the distortion with the late Guardian Pluto's time key already on its downward stroke. Logically, she knew staves such as the one her new partner was wielding weren't traditionally used to cut or slice anything. They were fulcrums and bludgeons, but that didn't stop the girl from falling into the Shivarra, sending the bo through the greater demon's left shoulder, down though it's torso can clearing the body between its legs, effectively dividing the giant pseudo female in two. Ranma hit the ground with enough force to embed the jeweled tip into the earth with enough violence that a quarter of it was buried into the ground where it stayed, rooted at a forty five degree angle. The girl continued to roll out with the impact, ultimately coming to a sliding rest next to Venus herself.

"Well shit, Red…" Sailor Venus whistled as the mangled halves quivered independently, barely maintaining some sense of balance before simply falling apart and melting at their feet.

"I'll give you ten out of—What?" Ranma watched curiously as the Senshi cocked her head, listening to something. "Whoa! We're leaving now!"

The blonde scooped Ranma with both hands and leapt skyward, leaving the ground at a high rate of speed even as two pink balls raced by them in the opposite direction, streaking into the surface and into the youma that had surrounded them only moments ago. Both impacted less than a second later, detonating in a suitably spectacular flash and pyre of pyroclastic material.

"What the hell was that?!" Ranma yelped, staring at the dispersing cloud of pink energy and the youma running for their lives or rallying upon other greater demons. The rumble of wind caught her attention and her head snapped up, just in time to watch a boxy flying ship descend out of the clouds at high speed with six power armors flying escort.

"That was the Princess!" Venus pointed out to a lone figure hovering near their altitude. She had similarly blond hair, but the facial features were softer than the woman holding her now. Likewise, she wore a blue fuku instead of Sailor Venus' own orange. The boxy vessel dumped altitude as energy fire from various greater youma began to track it, prompting more pink blasts from the other blonde. "Cargo ship is coming in a bit hot…"

Venus winced as the ship fell, activating its emergency thrusters at the last second and slowing down for a bone jarring landing; as opposed to the outright crash it had been slated for. Either way, she was sure the impact was hard enough to ensure an extended maintenance and repair cycle before it flew again. The armors were down around it instantly sweeping there area with plasma fire against any opportunistic youma the instant they landed.

"That's the last of them," The new blonde commented, floating up next to them and eyeing Ranma critically. "A survivor?"

Ranma was about to scowl when Venus answered for her. "Of sorts. Meet guardian Saotome; resident Starlight and Ki dancer. Red, Princess Moon Serenity."

"Guardian?" Sailor moon blinked, not even bothering with the other titles Ranma had already acquired.

"Named so by your mother herself," Venus answered the skeptical tone with a decisive nod as they descended into the free fire zone around the ship.

"Yeah, still workin' on the flying part." Ranma quipped with a smirk, hopping out of Venus' arms at a height of thirty meters. The horrified look on Moon's face lasted only as long as it took her to realize the girl had landed in a safe crouch. Survivors began to pour out of the transport behind her and hastily lined up at the gate, pushing through the event horizon as fast as they could manage.

"The Prince?" Venus queried as they touched down beside Ranma, surveying the evacuation of the battered craft. It had obviously taken its share of fire if the scorch marks were any judge; even a few bouts with those dragon things by the looks of the claw marks gouged in the hull.

"Insisted on piloting it himself," She shook her head. "Southern command is gone. Sinus Iridum was literally wiped off the map by a massive spell strike… Nothing but a crater by the time we got there." She nodded at the transport. "The people in this boat are the sole survivors. The other five transports…"

The jibe about her fiancé Endymion bad piloting died on the tip of her tongue with the new news. Sinus Iridum, a city of no less than six million people… And all that was left of it was a transport that couldn't hold more than one hundred people. The snarling look on her face communicated her realization quite clearly.

"When we get a hold of that red headed witch, I swear there will be no death—" Venus stopped, noting that Ranma had backed away exactly one step. "Eh, not you Red. The former Queen Beryl, ruler of Earth and architect of this madness."

Princess Moon looked from one of her closest friends to the newly minted Guardian and back. "That needed explanation?"

"Guardian Red is… On loan to us," Venus explained carefully, not exactly sure where any of them stood in terms of causality at the moment. "She's not up to speed on current events."

"She means there's a bunch of time travel bullshit involved," Ranma huffed, not caring any longer where they stood in terms of causality. She was lost, the Moon was getting nuked, demons had run amok and the woman that was supposed to send her back to the future was dead. It wasn't as if it could get much worse, in her opinion.

"That's one way to put it." Sailor Venus shrugged.

"Then Guardian Pluto…?"

"We're not sure at the moment," Minako frowned. "We're the only three left, and Red is certain that it was Pluto sent her back…"

"Which implies Pluto is still alive, but…" Moon trailed off into though, getting a clear picture of the discontinuity of events. She shook her head clear of the paradox Pluto's actions and subsequent demise represented. "An enigma for another day," She decided, turning back to the fire line her own elite power armor had been holding. "Fall back to the gate! Use the transport as cover and protect the civilians!"

Ranma Saotome took the advice to heart, unleashing her own frustrations by launching a pair of Moko Takabishas down range for heavy fire support, having a similar, if comparatively smaller effect to Sailor Moon's own pink energy blasts. Sailor Venus took the close in work, cutting down anything that made it into range with either a special technique from her own crystal blade or a golden coil from the segmented energy whip.

The three combatants fell back into a protective shell around the survivors and a uniformed man with armored pauldrons mounting his shoulders directing them through the gates. Lotta metals on his chest, Ranma noted out of the corner of her eye as she eviscerated another rank of youma with vacuum blades. The man brought in another officer to take his place and sprinted the short distance past the queen's own guard and to the silver haired woman. After a short exchange, the man was back with the Queen's own guard in tow. Princess Moon stepped back from her offensive, looking upon him with concern.

"Where are you…?"

The young, sandy haired general took the Princesses hand gently, kissing it. "I saw Beryl while flying in, no less than five kilometers west of our position. The Queen agrees that we need to act decisively."

"Then we—" She started, only to be cut off softly.

"Not we, Princess," The General continued. "You and Guardian Venus are to remain with the survivors until they are safely through the gate, per your mother's instructions. Her personal guard and I will spearhead the assault on the black queen herself. Once your charges are safely out of danger, your group shall reinforce our advance."

"Who's he?" Ranma asked, cutting loose a couple more vacuum blade and closing ranks with Venus.

"Prince Endymion, Moon's fiancé and crown prince of Earth," She replied, lashing another four youma down with the golden length of whip. Her lips took on a mischievous smile as she wound up for her next attack. "Why? Jealous?"

The counter took Ranma by surprise for a moment given the gender in question, but a witty retort born of reflex was already rolling off her tongue. "Feh, hardly. Got more than enough action in that department."

"I don't doubt that one bit, Starlight," Venus flashed her a knowing smile. Ranma had more than enough experience with innuendo to know it was buried in the girl's words somewhere, but lacked the social context to accurately identify it until her next her next ones. "Once we're done kicking ass and taking names here, I'm going to have to see if your male aspect is every bit as hot as your female one."

If it weren't for the life or death situation, Ranma would have eaten dirt on the spot.

Instead, a pinkish hue settled over her cheeks, while the youma pressing forth before them helped take her mind off the innuendo she easily recognized. Ranma's concern disappeared as quickly as it had manifest as she watched the Queen's Own step forward, adding their voluminous fire to the front and pushing forth into the mass of demons. Prince Endymion's hand flexed and a yellow blade of light flashed into existence as he followed his men out into the chaos.

The mob quickly swallowed them from sight, but the sheer amount of ordinance being unloaded beyond the curtain of demons and corrupted human soldiers was painfully obvious; the advance continued amid the flashes of destructive firepower.

"Venus-chan, stay with my mother," Princess Moon directed, pulling away from the vanishing sight of her fiancé with some reluctance. "Guardian Saotome and I will hold the line here."

Sailor Venus nodded and was gone, winding her way back to the gate and the entranced Queen.

"How long until the rest go through?!" Princess Moon shouted back to one of the officers tending to the evacuation.

"The last are going through now!" An officer shouted from the dwindling crowd of refugees. "Call it ten minutes!"

The princess-guardian thrust her hand out and a new pink ball coalesced in its grasp before shooting out into the thickening mass of demons and possessed Terran soldiers. Ranma's own Moko Takabisha followed in close behind, matching the release of magical energy with the detonation of lethally compressed life force. Even as the damned died by fire and Ki, Ranma couldn't help but to frown at the fact that even though her technique manifested at three times the size of the princesses, the blonde's was nearly ten times as destructive. Her left hand swept out on its knife edge, cutting down another group of youma with a nearly invisible line of vacuum energy who were attempting to flank the survivors.

"You're doing that with Ki alone?" Moon marveled as eight youma staggered and fell to the ground in halves.

"Heh," Ranma chuckled dryly. "Could say the same about that little pink ball of death."

The Princess returned the humor with a smile, lighting off another pink magical bolt for emphasis. Another dozen youma ceased to exist on the spot. "Any chance you can summon another one of those elementals?"

"I wish," Ranma returned as the pair dealt with their individual targets. "Place is too much of a mess to set it up. Too many youma scattered all over the place."

"Damn," Sailor Moon, cursed, firing again.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Ranma returned with bitter humor, continuing to pump out her own Ki techniques but beginning to feel the fatigue setting in. Feh, whatever, she thought, focusing on dropping as many of the demons as she possibly could in the most efficient manner possible. If they kept this up, she'd have to drop back to hand to hand techniques, and then—

"Endymion!" The princess suddenly exclaimed to her right, staggering as if hit physically. Ranma moved in to cover the girl's lapse, unleashing a Moko Takabisha double to buy them some breathing room. The redhead looked down at the blonde with concern, her blue eyes alternating between her and the infringing enemy warily.

"What happened?"

"Something has happened to Endymion-sama!" The girl's voice quavered her own blue eyes unfocused as if she were seeing some dire event herself.

Ranma grimaced and evaluated their tactical options, then glanced back at the nearly empty gate. "Yo! How are we looking?!"

"Last thirty, Guardian!" The reply shouted back to her. The martial artist took the new information in stride and turned over to the nearest armored trooper.

"Fall back on the gate," She ordered, pulling Moon back to her feet. "Once the last ones go—"

"You can run, but you cannot hide, Queen Serenity!"

Ranma's head whipped around and Moon's own blue eyes snapped up as the disembodied voice echoed around them. Ranma growled, "Let me guess…"

"…Queen Beryl," The Princess frowned, scanning the horizon and the all of a sudden passive youma.

A black lightning bolt suddenly pierced the sky fifty meters behind the youma's front line, coalescing into the figure of a female in a long, form fitting purple dress that encased her ample cleavage and unnaturally pale skin. A flowing red mane drifted in the breeze as she floated above the field of battle, surveying the ruined capital with glowing red eyes and a malicious smile.

"My, my, Serenity-chan," The woman smirked, putting a long bony finger to her chin as if to contemplate. "I love what you've done to the place... It reeks of abject failure."

Ranma stared at the woman, all but tasting the thick waves of evil rolling away from the her aura and the heavy, dark magic blanketing the area. Two years of non-stop combat had taught Ranma one thing about these sort of stand-offs, and that was that shit was about ready to hit the fan.

Passed that line a loooong time ago, another part of her quipped before her mindset shifted, immediately jettisoned any humorous take on the situation and dropped into full tactical mode, her head snapping back to the troopers holding behind her.

"Gate. Now." She ordered, her tone leaving no room for argument. The troopers moved to obey and their withdraw drew the floating woman's attention.

"And the little moon-whore, how quaint," Her malevolent grin twisted into a snarl. "You stole my Endymion's heart and now it's time I repay your trespass."

"Oh God, no…"

Ranma barely heard the blonde's whisper and the redheaded sorceress raised her arm outward.

CRACK!

A shadowy lightning bolt flashed through her grasp and the mangled, broken form of Prince Endymion materialized in her hand. The fact that he hung lifelessly told everything Ranma needed to know about his condition.

"You can have him, whore," Beryl spat and pulled back, heaving his body clear of her ranks and landing with a tumble before Moon who was frozen in shock. "I know I'm positively spent."

Moon was emotionally gone now, already suffering from crushing despair as she watched the last spark of life fade from her fiancé. Ranma, however, was not and her hand flexed into a knife edge.

"Kijin Raishu Dan Zekkou."

The massive vacuum blade ripped away from Ranma's hand as she swung through the pivot, releasing the store of inverted Ki and tearing through the fifty meter space in under a second. Beryl's eyes widened as the nearly invisible attack was upon her within the space of a breath, allowing for barely enough time to draw upon the infernal power granted to her to deflect its potential around and away from her person. There had been no power up. No special attack sequence. No warning. Just the flick of her hand and… Pressure caressed her body with lethal promise, sending her purple dress a-flutter but little else.

"A pathetic effort, child," She sneered, looking down upon the shell shocked blond and her red headed counterpart with contempt. "If that's the best you can… do?" She paused as a red strand floated across her vision, followed by another and then a red lock of her own hair; drifting away with the breeze. Ranma smirked with more confidence than she felt, but her mood improved upon seeing the irregular angle notched into the woman's tresses; her patronizing smile contorted with rage.

"Kill them all!"

The formerly passive mob surged forth with her command and Ranma was already stepping through a dance all but forbidden by her father. Like the technique she had just unleashed on the floating woman, it was sealed for a reason, but with the Princess on the ropes mentally and no backup, she needed a martial arts technique of mass destruction.

The dance of a mad demon god fit the bill perfectly.

The technique was one Ranma had never committed to live fire simply because of its destructive nature, but she had practiced the movement and it was, at its core, simply a modification of the vacuum blade. Ranma found her center of gravity and began to move through the dance in a graceful blur that Kumon Ryu could have never hoped to achieve. The martial artist's hands swept out and youma died. The initial wave of Beryl's front line simply fell apart as vacuum blades eviscerated the demons in depth, and any push forward was instantly met by a dozen more of the zero-atmosphere Ki razors that carved entire swaths out of the new offensive.

"Snap out of it, Moon!" Ranma hollered as she twisted through a new cycle, dealing death with every sweep but feeling the fatigue of battle. It had been nearly a day and a half of back to back battles and damned if she wasn't feeling the strain. She needed the girl's heavy artillery and she needed it now. "Dammit, if you don't—!"

"RED!"

Ranma spun around on a heel just in time to watch the Guardian of Venus abandon her sword with a mighty heave in her direction, sending the crystal blade in a long arc in her direction. The weapon gained height and the woman was back to her own defense of the Queen in a flash, slashing back at encroaching youma with her own magical segmented whip of golden power.

The throw of the blade was precise and the redheaded martial artist danced into its return to earth. Anybody else would have more than likely been impaled by the tumbling weapon's ballistics, but Ranma judged the timing masterfully and snatched the blade out of the air. It pulsed white-blue on contact, but that didn't stop her from using its momentum to twist into the nearest group of youma and commence to do damage. The claymore was nearly as tall as she was, but danced lightly in her hands despite the apparent mass; allowing Ranma tore through the group like a buzz saw. Limbs, heads and anything else that desired to meet the sword's molecular sharp edge were hacked away as if they were little more than putty

By the time Ranma had rolled clear of the group, nearly two dozen youma had been either killed or sufficiently maimed to shock the rest into a slower, more wary advance. That, and she was sure the glowing blue light emanating from the blade itself had something to do with it. She took the moment to revise her own combat strategy, slipping out of the German broadsword form she had been using and into the looser one of taijiquan. On one hand she knew that wielding a weapon as massive as this one would have necessitated a focus on momentum based sword play, but the claymore was somehow unnaturally light enough to where she could literally throw it around like the lighter weapon taijiquan demanded. With mobility being the difference between life or death, she was more than happy to trade forms and backed off as the youma advance came in.

"Moon, if you don't get a hold of yourself, we're plain dead," She stated calmly over her shoulder, waiting for a demon to work up enough nerve to come back into melee range.

"I… don't care…" The whisper came and Rama's eyes widened with the announcement. "…Can't… can't live without him…"

"Moon—"

"Just… kill me… Please!" Ranma glance back to find two despair filled eyes staring back at her. "I… I loved him… and now…"

"And now we get the bitch responsible for his death," Ranma snarled, all but willing the girl to listen. She stepped next to the Princess, pulling her up roughly even as she eyed the encroaching demon forces; especially the sorceress watching the entire scene with a cruel smile plastered across her pale features.

"You want to kill yourself? Whatever," Ranma's own gaze burned into the Moon guardians, forcing the words to sink in through sheer will alone. "But not before that witch pays, got it?"

"I can't—"

"Maybe not," Ranma cut off the blonde's self loathing abruptly. "But we can."

Princess Moon Serenity took one last look of longing to the man she had loved before nodding acceptance. "He… He would have wanted it."

Ranma acknowledged the statement with her own solemn nod. "Then let's give him a proper farewell."

Something changed in the Princesses posture in that moment and the despair she had been wallowing in drained from her eyes to be replaced by something else entirely; the glinting edge of steel.

"The blood of million… billions is something I cannot abide," She began darkly, a simple, gold and jewel wand appearing in hand. "The murder of my beloved, my soul mate… All shall be avenged…"

A pink aura encompassed the girl, its focal point emanating from the wand itself. Tangible waves of power flowed around Ranma now, and they continued to build until the pink light pulse brightly, transforming the princess entirely. She still wore the fuku, but it had been altered; adorned now by a gleaming silver breast plate and elegant white plate pauldrons. The wand in her hand, however was no longer a wand, but a dual bladed weapon with the curvature of a seminar on each end and a structure made hundreds of molecularly sharp crystalline feathers.

Vengeful blue eyes rose to turn upon the sorceress herself. "Your time has come, Queen Beryl. In the name of the Moon…!"

"…We're going to kick your ass," Ranma finished, bringing Guardian Venus' blade to bear on the sorceress.

"Then you will both—" Beryl's witty retort withered on her tongue as her front lines suddenly died, erupting violently in a pink bloom of catastrophic firepower, followed by her partners invisible blades.

Both Ranma and Moon were inside the youma ranks now, crystalline blades flashing even as the storm of magic and debris cleared. Surprise had been total and now both women flashed through demons large and small with absolute impunity, slaying the disorganized force before them with ruthless efficiency. Ranma Saotome took point aggressively, flowing through the jian form with a weapon much larger and far more lethal than the art would have usually permitted. The claymore swung like a light blade and she danced through her opposition's pathetic efforts to resist or flee in panic, chopping at them while dispensing the occasional vacuum blade to maximize her body count.

Serenity Moon was directly behind her, eviscerating her own youma but providing the heavy artillery. Any attempts at reorganizing a counterattack in reprisal to their new offensive were met by simple, overwhelming force in the form of a near kiloton range magical warhead. Pink detonations roared within the demonic host, vaporizing scores of the horde outright while maiming dozens more.

Queen Beryl's cheek twitched as the forces between her and the Princess evaporated, causing her to float back as a precautionary measure. "Shivarra commanders," She turned back to the protective ring of four greater demons. "Deal with—"

BOOooM!

Beryl's world suddenly rocked with a brilliant blue detonation forcing her to tumble through the sky a short distance before regaining control, She scrubbed her eyes clear and found the Princess's red headed friend recovering from the launch of a Moko Takabisha; an arrogant smirk on her face.

The witch snarled, gathering the power of black lightning in hand. "Suffer! YOU WILL--!"

BOOOM!

So fixated on the guardian was Beryl that she didn't even notice a second pink sphere blaze in from a different angle, detonating as it impacted against her protective wards. Pink fury lashed against her shields with enough power to not only addle her senses, but send her tumbling to the earth hard. Beryl hit the ground smoldering, barely righting herself from the uncontrolled tumble in time. She stood up from the crouch, battle damage already healing.

"KILL. THEM. NOW." Beryl grated, looking up at the Shivarra commanders furiously. All four pseudo females nodded and began to advance.

Ranma cleared another platoon of lesser fodder before running nearly smack dab into the first two story, four armed 'female' demon in plate, deflecting four sword strikes in rapid succession. Sparks scream away from each blade as she parried the attempts in sequence, bathing their duel in surreal, flashing rain. It was a duel that lasted only as long as it took Moon to line up a clear shot, blasting its two left arms away and afford Ranma enough breathing room finish the thing off herself. The greater demon collapsed and another was on her before she had time to pick her next target. Blades whirled in once more and the redhead countered at near Amaguriken speeds. Had the blade in her hand been a normal claymore, she'd have been dead by now. It would have been too unwieldy and the female thing before her too fast to mount a proper defense. Whatever it was, the crystal edge in her hand was far from normal and she decided to put it to the test, meeting the Shivarra's next stroke directly. Ranma applied the strength that could punch through boulders to the strike and metal shriek in agony as the steel of the demon's scimitar parted. The Greater's bottom right forearm parted with it.

"SAOTOME!"

The martial artist was about ready to press the advantage in full when the Princess warning screamed above the din of battle and her head jerk left, finding a clear corridor between her and Queen Beryl, who was already charging her own black lightning bolt.

No time to attack, no time to evade! Shit shit shit! Ranma's intellect worked through the tactical angles in that split second, extended her free hand back at Beryl and began to concentrate Ki.

The redheaded witch simply smirked. "That won't save you, girl."

The black lightning released.

Ranma had less than two seconds from the time of warning to the actual attack itself to devise a defense and the lightning bolt itself burned down the twenty meter range at roughly the speed of light. In other words, the attack was instantaneous and met Ranma's improvised defense dead on.

CraackBOOM!

The redhead's aura resonated violently as black energy ripped thought it, shredding the barrier interposed between her person and the attack itself. The bolt dumped its remaining potential into the martial artist, blowing her off balance and sending her careening wildly through the mob of youma where she finally skidded to a halt thirty meters downrange. Smoke cleared and Ranma simply lay inert. The improvised Ki shield had done the job… barely, bleeding away just enough energy so that the lightning bolt hadn't been outright lethal. Still, it failed under the overwhelming assault and every sense Ranma possessed coursed with agony while the impact itself had endowed her with enough cuts and scrapes to ensure she was a bleeding mess.

Her eyes flickered open and the world was impossibly blurred. Sounds filtered through with a muffled quality as youma collected around her. Ranma clenched her teeth and fought her own motor skills to prop herself upright, only to wobble and fall back to the earth. Blurred youma closed, and Ranma shook her head, attempting to clear her senses. Another attempt to bring herself upright met with limited success kneeling, but no more combat ready. Ranma slurred a curse as a claw reached lazily in, and then…

…Pink.

Suddenly her entire world was bathed in brilliant pink and the youma instantly ceased to exist. Magical power roared around the martial artist, knocking her back to the ground as the ground around her was bathed in pink fire. Another youma appeared before and suddenly the blonde was there, twisting through a glinting arc and cutting the creature into three distinct sections with the dual bladed scimitar before settling beside her.

"…aotome…!" the muffled voice called out something indecipherable, and Ranma stared without comprehension. "…walk! We need to….!"

"SAOTOME!"

Blue eyes blinked and the world finally snapped back into focus. Kneeling before her was the Princess wearing a concerned look. "Can you hear me?"

"Ya…Yeah," The redhead replied shakily, once more attempting her balance. This time she met with considerably more success and wobbled to her feet with the blonde's help. Moon handed her the crystal blade she had lost in the tumble, which she used as a crutch. "Shit that hurt."

"I'm surprised you survived it, frankly," Moon frowned. And she was. The girl had no bindings or armor, but the fact that she was even able to stand was… "Hold still."

Ranma complied and the princess put her palm to the martial artists forehead and began to glow with pink energy. This time, Ranma recognized the technique immediately. "You're a healer too?"

"Hardly," The blonde left her hand for a moment long before pulling away. Ranma's wounds had smoldered shut for the most part, save a couple here and there. Either way, she was feeling considerably better than a minute ago. "Mother insisted I learn the basic spells, however."

"I'll take what I can get," Ranma nodded gratefully and turned back out toward the wary youma once more. Beyond them were the last two Shivarra guardians and Beryl herself, close enough to where a final, brutal offensive could prove decisive. "I say we finish this. I'm getting tired of that smirk."

Two pairs of blue eyes locked with a single pair of red and Moon nodded. "Let's."

The sword came up and Ranma was gone in a blur even as pink bolts erupted around her, annihilating youma left and right. The redhead rocked with the close proximity impacts, but kept her footing, engaging anything that hadn't been blown to pieces by the princess's pink balls of death. The crystal blade flashed and Ranma was through the first rank, leaving a trail of bisected corpses in her wake even as she crashed into the second. Sailor Moon closed ranks as her own weapon arced with deadly grace, cutting down anything that managed to close on their rear quarter while Ranma took her turn at dispensing larger, blue spheres of destruction.

CRAAccack!

One of the two remaining Shivarras teleported in, cleaving the space Ranma and Moon had just stood with two giant scimitars while the other two sought their targets independently. Ranma rolled out and took the blade meant for her directly, parrying it away while moon lit off another pink blast, only to have it deflected into impotence by the weapon itself.

Ranma made the most of the greater demon's divided attention, breaking through the single blade and forcing the Shivarra to dedicate a second, then third blade to her own defense. The redhead managed to get a good nick on the leg and the fourth and final scimitar came up, allowing Moon to fully concentrate on the other youma threatening their defeat in detail. The whirlwind of swords continued, seemingly continuing to press Ranma back until a wave front of high pressure snapped around the demon like a vice. Ranma stepped inside the small spiral and anchored the sword, thrusting her other hand into a skyward uppercut. She had only achieved two revolutions on the stunted spiral, but the whirling dervish of blades helped fortify the technique and now the demon was thrown skyward while its blades flew out across the field of battle like scythes.

She turned and found the last remaining demon standing between her and Beryl, then looked back at the embattled Princess, fully engaged by the youma attempting to swarm her. Their eyes locked for a moment and the blonde nodded. Ranma couldn't hear the words, but she read them off her lips perfectly.

Do it.

Ranma nodded and turned back to the demon and Queen Beryl, breaking out into the fastest spring she could manage. Behind her, Princess Moon Serenity gave her weapon a mighty heave and the magical double bladed scimitar tore through the ranks between her and Ranma like a buzz saw, finding open air and arcing back down into the martial artist's path. The final Shivarra brought all four blades up, ready to fend off the redhead but completely missing the guided circular saw that floated in off her flank, removing three of the demons four arms. Purple blood gushed and the remaining blade came down, offering Ranma Saotome her path to height. She ran along the flat of the blade and buried her own in the Greater Demon's head, using it as leverage for even greater altitude.

Free of the claymore's mass, she tumbled though the open air with purpose, mixing hot and cold Ki together to form the catalyst of the most lethal attack in her arsenal, one that would shove anything short of immortality up that woman's ass.

"HIRYU…"

The sorceress watched the similarly red haired girl clear the last demon and gain altitude on her, twisting through air improbably while trails of frost began to streak away from her extremities. Black lightning began to coalesce in Beryl's hand and she sneered. If it was a suicide run the girl was after, she'd be more than happy to oblige.

"…HYOU…"

Ranma recovered from the spin, satisfied with power she had built up enough cold Ki to do the job even as she began to fall from her ballistic arc. The attack would drain the last of her reserves, but… Ranma committed to the technique with her own frost bitten arm even as the woman below pulled back to unleash her own final attack. Not like Saffron, she smiled grimly. This time, she had a clear line all the way to the target and Ranma intended to make the most of her first strike advantage.

"…TOPPA!"

Fifteen thousand years up time, Setsuna Meiou stood by, patiently awaiting the return of on Ranma Saotome from the past. The time gates had locked on to his person and formed the requisite quantum bubble around him. Soon, transport would commence and…

"THREAT INBOUND!"

The Serenity AI shouted the panicked warning and the guardian's eyes widened in shock before reflex took control. The green haired Senshi rolled right and away from the gate's event horizon, which was immediately impaled by horizontal tornado that blasted out into the abyss beyond. She had no sooner righted herself when the gateway shuddered again, disgorging ragged looking redhead that followed the remains of the tightly wound tornado on pure inertia, slamming into the intangible resistance making up the time gate's surface. Ranma bounced once, then twice before tumbling to a stop some twenty meters away from the artifact itself.

Sailor Pluto simply stared with wide eyes, barely comprehending the ramifications of what had just occurred. On the other hand, she knew that whatever had happened, it had happened big and she would undoubtedly be spending the next week or so analyzing that time wave in depth.

"Guardian Saotome's life signs read faint, but stable," Chibi-Serenity reported as she powered down the event horizon and closed the gate shielding. Setsuna was already running over to the redhead by the time the double doors closed and locked. "Severe chi depletion registered, moderate external and internal bleeding. Shall I inform an Earth side medical unit, Guardian Pluto?"

"No. I'll handle it," Setsuna replied, cradling the girl in her arms. What the hell did you back there, Saotome? She could handle most of the injuries herself, while the chi would be replenished with rest. Lots of rest. "Pull every archive of the Fall from the Mercury database. I want to…" The woman developed a quizzical look on her face as she just realized something. "Wait… Guardian Saotome?"

"Affirmative," the AI nodded passively. "Comparative temporal database analysis indicates Ranma Saotome was named a Guardian of the Realm by Queen Serenity herself on, December 16th, Silver Millennium 8325; seventeen-oh-five Lunar Standard Time."

"Sonofa…" Setsuna mumbled starring at the torn up girl in her arms. "What the hell did you just do…?" The Guardian rose to her full height, carrying the limp and unconscious redhead up carefully.

"Open a gate to my apartment… We'll sort this out later."

Queen Isis Serenity the Third stared out at the ruins of her beloved city, now teaming with youma and the Terran damned. Guardian Venus had only moments before been consumed by the horde attempting to overrun their position and then her own daughter as she and the time displaced girl mounted their final assault on the former Queen Beryl.

Now the evacuation gate was silent. The last of the survivors had made it thought and she sealed the device herself. Nobody would be following her children to their hiding place. They could begin anew, safe from the demonic horde before her. Queen Serenity shook her head sadly. The young redhead's attack had almost succeeded. Whether she would have succeed in breaching the woman's defenses or not if she hadn't disappeared was something she would never know, but one thing the girl and her own daughter had done before departing their mortal coil was carve a clear path straight to the evil queen herself. To point, the sorceress now stood woefully out of position and underpowered in answering Ranma's attack with one of her own, all but inviting her counterattack.

Queen Serenity smiled sadly and gathered the last of her power, bolstered now by the fact that she was free of her obligations to the porthole and nuclear defense. She gathered it all into a shining beacon of magical annihilation that boiled within her grasp.

"For my daughter… For her fiancée…" She whispered, raising the orb of power aloft. Two hundred meters beyond, Beryl seemed to realize the error her inattention had cost her and turned back to face Serenity with a horrified expression writ across her face. "For my Guardians and my people…" She continued, her voice moving from despair to finality. Beryl hastily attempted to recover power from her failed counterattack while ordering the disorganized host forward. "For those too innocent to know of your crimes and the depths of your corruption... Vengeance."

Queen Isis Serenity the Third pulled on the last of power, the sum total of her life force, holding her mortal enemy with a cold, crystalline gaze.

"In the name of the Moon, you shall be Punished."

Author's Notes
Um, so yeah. This is a huge chapter. Frankly, I couldn't find a suitable point to break it off. So I missed my Christmas release date. Merry Christmas! And then my New Years release date. Happy New Year! So with that out of the way, I hope this beast makes up for the somewhat shoddy release schedule.

Arc Mines; Explosive propelled monofilament directional mines. One mine contains roughly 5000 strands of the monofilament wire measuring up to ten meters in length. Each strand is weighted on both ends, allowing the wire to function as both bolo and shrapnel.

Damadra T80 Assault Lance; Standard man portable assault weapon of the Silver Millennium era. Fires high energy plasma at ranges up to 300m, damage dropping off with range. Can be fired in single, 3-shot, auto and stream modes. Reloads consists of single chamber 30mm magically compressed energy crystals.

Barrier Cannon; Triple barrel large bore fixed artillery piece capable of projecting .5 kiloton plasma bolts to a range of 40km, 5 per second. Because of the power draw required to operate this weapon, it must remain hardwired to a permanent source of energy. Also, the enormous output of this weapon forces it to fire in no more than twenty round salvos or risk catastrophic failure due to the load placed upon all of the cannon's components, heat being the most critical factor.

Timewaves & Causality; The result of a change to the past when viewed from the present. All changes are affected the instant the time wave passes the relative present of the observer. Only people specially shielded from the wave's effect will perceive the change of events that occur; all others will remember the changes as 'normal'. Timewave magnitudes are measured in 'chronoms', with numerically higher measurements indicating greater, more broad sweeping changes to the timeline. The Time Gate's shielding are rated to withstand a theoretical 9,852 chronom wave. This limit has never been tested.

Ki Dancer; One skilled in the use and manipulation of pure life force. Due to the social focus of the day and magic pervading every aspect of Silver Millennium life, Ki Dancers were best utilized as physicians due to their near limitless ability to manipulate life energy. Ki-Dancers were rarely utilized as offensive aggressors since Magic normally proved more destructive when viewed from an efficiency standpoint. Likewise, Ki Dancers maintain their healing supremacy since manipulation of life force through magical means can result in oversaturation and magical induced shock.

Novis Lumina; A small empire based out of the Orion Nebula. Collectively known as 'Starlights', its inhabitants are most noted for their ability to genetically change genders at will. They maintain peaceful, if neutral relations with the Silver Millennium. The Novis Lumina control five star systems and field a modest, technologically competitive star navy.

Errata;
-All past Senshi died in the fall.
-Ranma brought nothing forward with him.
-This is not a Ranma-chan exclusive fic

Special Thanks; TFF was my at work scratch pad for this fic and I got some particularly insightful comments and suggestions in the process. Everybody there deserves my profound thanks. Special recognition to Lawra, whose contributions will become known shortly. Likewise Amy, DCG, DT and Materia Blade for the close fire support, Mark and Justin (and more Amy) for editing services rendered. If I forgot anybody, you know I love you ;)